


The Nights That Followed

by ElyseEstheim



Series: All It Took Was A Dance [2]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Continuation, F/M, It's not crucial but it's a good fic with the OTP so y'know, Pretty much just self-indulgent fluff don't @ me, Slice of Life, You should probs read that first, couldn't hurt, sequel to When The Night Was Over, some character exploration because that shit is mah jam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-01-16 07:39:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12338361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElyseEstheim/pseuds/ElyseEstheim
Summary: Naoto takes a week-long vacation after the LMB Festival, an especially welcome break following Kanji's confession and the events thereafter. This is an account of the "investigation" she and Kanji explored together during that time.





	1. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the group travels back to Inaba by train after a restless night.

The ride back to Inaba was going a lot easier than Kanji had anticipated. The nervous tension he’d always had around Naoto melted into nonexistence after the events in the dressing room, and he sat comfortably at her side with a crochet project as she glanced through some case files she’d retrieved from her briefcase. This wasn’t terribly out of the ordinary for them, but what _was_ different was the fact that Naoto had chosen his arm as her backrest rather than that of the chair in which she sat, one leg tucked underneath her to create a larger space to lay out her documents as she reviewed them. It was strange, how easily they fell into this more intimate rhythm, especially in public, but all their friends had been incredibly supportive after finding out.

Which, for the record, had not been Yosuke’s fault, but Teddie’s. Chie had managed to keep the Junes heir’s wagging tongue at bay by… _convincing_ him to buy her steak once a day for a year if he slipped up, but while she was preoccupied with him and still flustered after walking in on Kanji and Naoto, she had completely neglected arguably the _least_ discreet of their number – who had gleefully shuffled off in search of everyone else to relay the good news. Not long after Chie had realized he was gone, Rise had barreled down the hall, weaving past the two standing watch and crashing into the room. She, for lack of a more appropriate term, glomped her two friends full-force (who, fortunately, had not been actively making out at the time), crying tears of joy. The others had filed into the room in her wake, each offering congratulations and basking in the relief that Kanji had finally, _finally_ confessed. On that note... Kanji couldn’t be entirely sure, but he could’ve sworn he saw Yu slip Yukiko some money after Naoto had confirmed it was him who’d taken the initiative.

Rise’s agency had allowed the group to use a sprawling apartment kept specifically for talent from out of town, since none of them were heading back to Inaba until late the following afternoon. Kanji found himself unable to sleep in the middle of the night, despite how exhausted he was, and after tossing and turning on his futon fruitlessly for a while, he left the room he was sharing with the other guys to avoid waking them with a well-worn notebook, skein of yarn, and needles in hand. He had decided the best way to thank Rise was to make something for her, and too many ideas were tossing around in his head to be able to pass out. Plopping down on the couch in the common room after turning one of the smaller lamps on, Kanji opened the notebook and began hashing out some designs - a habit he’d developed after an offhanded complaint about how frequently he forgot concepts dreamed up at random prompted an unexpected gift from Naoto not long after. (He’d opened his shoe locker a couple mornings later to find a mid-sized Moleskine notebook inside with a note in her slightly messy handwriting saying, _“I hope this helps resolve your issue regarding forgotten ideas.”_ )

He wasn’t sure how long he had been drafting before he felt a familiar presence behind him, and he didn't need to see or hear who it was before he knew. “Can’t sleep either?” he asked quietly, not looking up from the half-finished charm pattern taking shape on the page. The night vigil’s newcomer circled around the back of the couch and settled down on the cushion next to his yarn.

“I had an epiphany of sorts regarding the case I’m working,” Naoto explained, picking up one of the knitting needles and twirling it around inattentively as she spoke. “After I wrote it down, I couldn’t get back to sleep and wished not to disturb anyone with my restlessness.” Kanji hummed sympathetically and continued sketching, his heart leaping into his throat when he noticed her lean towards him out of the corner of his eye. “What are you working on?” she inquired with genuine interest.

“Figured I’d do a little somethin’ for Rise,” he told her, tilting the book to offer her a better view even though she had already moved his yarn and needles to the coffee table in order to move closer. “Y’know, t-ta thank her for askin’ us to come, and as a sorta comeback present, I guess.” Kanji gave a half-shrug, uncomfortable as he always was when discussing anything remotely sentimental. “I dunno if ‘comeback presents’ are even a thing, but it's whatever, y'know?” His embarrassment drowned beneath a wave of affection as a small hand came to rest on top of his, stilling his pencil. 

“You never cease to impress me, Kanji,” Naoto whispered fondly. She caught herself a moment later and coughed awkwardly before her eyes flicked back to the sketchbook pages, and she gestured towards the book with a deliberate tilt of her chin. “I’m glad the Moleskine has been put to good use.”

“You kidding? I never go anywhere without it,” he declared with pride. Kanji tucked his pencil inside the book along the page in use and set it on the table next to the yarn, taking Naoto’s cool hands between both of his. “I can’t tell you how much that thing helps me sleep at night.”

“I have one as well that I keep next to my bed, for when my thoughts keep me awake,” she said, the way Kanji’s thumbs glided along the tops of her hands causing blood to rush to her face. “That’s where the idea came from to give you the spare I owned.”

Kanji gaped at her. “Y’mean... that was yours?”

“It was. And now it’s yours.” She met his gaze with bright eyes, the blush on her cheeks intensifying. “Much like myself.”

Kanji’s chest flooded with so much emotion, he thought he might burst. In one swooping motion, he gathered the girl next to him into his arms and buried his nose in the top of her hair. He inhaled a mix of vanilla, mint, and something distinctly _her_ , sighing blissfully as he exhaled. “Maybe I’ll make _two_ things for Rise instead of one,” he thought aloud, and a burst of air brushed against his chest as he felt Naoto shake with mirth. 

“I’m certain she would appreciate it either way.” 

The two sat together that way for a while, talking about any old thing that came to mind or simply enjoying the comfortable silence occasionally punctuated by the sounds of the city drifting from the streets far below. Kanji idly played with the ends of Naoto’s hair while she contented herself with pressing her ear to his chest, matching her breathing to the gentle, deep rhythm of his heart.

(Some time later, when she awoke to use the restroom, Yukiko found them in much the same position, except that Kanji had slipped down into an awkward recline, taking Naoto with him in their sleep. She smiled as a mother would upon her children and, after retrieving an extra blanket from one of the closets, gingerly lifted Kanji’s legs onto the couch, arranged them into what she _hoped_ was a comfortable tangle with Naoto’s, and draped the aforementioned blanket over them before returning to the girls’ room. She set her earliest alarm in order to wake them before everyone else, as she was certain neither of them would appreciate being caught sleeping together.)

~*~

Naoto's sudden movement against Kanji’s arm startled him from his thoughts of the night prior and back to the train so abruptly, he jumped enough to shock her in return and dropped his last three stitches.

“Oh! I apologize, Kanji-kun,” she yelped, slapping her hand down on top of her files to keep them from falling off her lap. “It wasn’t my intention to disturb you so. I needed to shift my weight to stave off the paresthesia in my lower leg.” 

“Para… what?”

“My foot was falling asleep.”

“Oh.” Kanji shook his head self-consciously, picking up the stitches and temporarily casting off so he could put his work-in-progress away for the time being. “Don’ worry about it. ‘S’my own fault for spacin’ out like that.” He leaned down to pick up a couple of papers that had escaped Naoto’s rush to secure them, and after handing them back to her, he draped an arm languidly over the back of her chair to give her a larger space to lean against, should she desire it. “Still working on that epin… epho… eh, thing from last night?”

Naoto inclined her head in confirmation as she straightened her documents, tapping the bottom of the stack lightly against the aisle-side armrest before placing it into a manila folder and back into her briefcase. “If I’m right on this, I’ll only need to be in Tokyo for a few days. I can come home sooner.”

“That’s awesome!” Kanji cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “It’s been _months_ since ya been back for good!”

She found his enthusiasm infectious and beamed along with him. “It’ll be nice to take things easy for a while, yes.” Naoto reached above her to pull Kanji’s arm down over her shoulder, positioning herself such that her back pressed against his side. Kanji had to admit he was shocked by how comfortable she seemed with being this openly affectionate with him, even if no one was really paying them any mind. Or, so he thought.

“ _Oooooooh,_ gettin’ fresh up here, are we?” a voice leered from the booth behind them. Kanji recoiled and whipped his head around in anger, but before he could retaliate verbally, he heard the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting flesh, followed immediately by a grunt of pain. 

“Yosuke-Senpai, this _hardly_ qualifies as inappropriate when one is sitting next to a romantic partner in a semi-public space,” Naoto sighed, her tone long-suffering.

“Ooh-HOO, ro _mantic,_ you say?”

“Oh, for the love of- _stuff_ it, Hanamura,” Chie groaned from her seat at his side, swatting at him with the back of her hand. “What are you, five?” She then turned to the side so her voice would carry better over her shoulder. “Ignore him, you guys. He’s just jealous he didn’t walk away from the festival with a girlfriend like Kanji-kun did.” Her ability to sound supportive while mercilessly roasting someone else was something to be admired, if not feared.

“Wha- I am not!” Yosuke sputtered. Kanji could hear Yukiko going into a laughing fit across from Chie and sighed submissively. 

“He’s just happy for you two and doesn’t know how else to show it,” Yu asserted over the ensuing argument from his seat next to Teddie, who was sandwiched in between him and Yukiko if not for returning from yet another trip to the dining car with a stack of boxes.

“Another way he wanted to show it was by generously paying for everybody’s on-board meal today!” Teddie gushed as he handed two of the small snack boxes up through the gap between Kanji and Naoto’s headrests, completely ignoring complaints from the group's unwilling benefactor about both invasion of personal space and taking his wallet without permission, _again._

“’Ey Ted, y’know we have more room up here where you could sit so you’re not squishin’ Senpai,’ Kanji suggested as he took the boxes from the Shadow boy and handed one to Naoto, who inclined her head in thanks.

“But I like squishing with Sensei,” Teddie replied innocently, unaware of Yu shaking his head in amused resignation.

“That aside,” Naoto chimed in, “in the event your discomfort outweighs your desire to remain at Yu-Senpai’s side, please don’t hesitate to sit up here with us.”

One could almost _hear_ the sparkles.

“Nao-chan, are you saying you want me to join in on your train ride of _looove_ with Kanji-chan?” Teddie asked dreamily.

“Hey! All she said was you could sit in the same _booth,_ not cuddle with us, y’dumb bear,” Kanji shot back, leaning so his head blocked the gap Teddie was currently trying to squeeze his face through. “And don’t freakin' call me that!”

“Aw, Kanji, don't deny our love! You were my first kiss, and you know what they say about-”

“Don't worry about it, Kanji,” Yosuke interrupted as he struggled to pull Teddie away from the seatback, pushing him back across the common space of their booth once he'd managed it. “Nobody except this idiot wants to intrude on your _cuddling_ , especially after how long you waited to do it.”

As Kanji seethed in his embarrassment, Naoto could only sigh in exasperation. “P-perhaps we should have kept this to ourselves for a while.”

"Too late now," he muttered, turning his focus solely upon annihilating the snack box's contents in an effort to distract himself until he found his calm.

"It will pass," Naoto consoled, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself as much as Kanji. Louder so her voice would be heard behind them, she added, "Perhaps, if and when Yosuke-Senpai gets the courage to confess his feelings for Chie-Senpai, he'll be too preoccupied to give us any more grief." Kanji howled with laughter as Yosuke nearly choked on his food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spend way too much time thinking about Atlus's missed opportunities with these two, but here's a glimpse of how an OVA centered around them might have played out had I written it and also if I had any talent or opportunity writing OVAs.
> 
> ~~Come on, cowards, MAKE THEM CANON IN PQ2~~
> 
> Anyway, this'll have seven chapters and an epilogue full of OTP goodness and Investigation Team shenanigans. Chapter 1 is the shortest of the bunch (because I guess I'm incapable of writing chapters with anything less than steadily increasing word counts). Only the best for the Persona fam, amirite


	2. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Naoto has a hard time keeping her eyes off Kanji, takes a moment to imagine what might have been, and discovers the merits and downfalls of taiyaki as an ice cream cone substitute.

The morning after their arrival back in Inaba found Naoto up exceptionally early, walking along the floodplain with briefcase in hand. She was supposed to meet up with Kanji later that morning at his family’s shop, but she hadn’t quite finished cementing the break she’d made in her case. Since she had no desire to spend her time with Kanji working, she decided to go where she felt most productive – the pavilion by the Samegawa at daybreak. It was chilly for a summer morning, a sign that the season was nearing transition, but the birds didn’t seem to care as they went about their business, driving the floodplain’s resident cat and her two kittens crazy by flitting above them just out of reach. 

Naoto reached into her satchel and withdrew a small chamois cloth to wipe the picnic table and bench free of dew before setting her things and herself down to business. After wringing the excess moisture out of the cloth and replacing it in its container in her bag, she went back over the notes she had hastily scribbled in her Moleskine before bed the night before, comparing them to everything else she’d jotted down in margins, folder interiors, paper napkins, pages she had since ripped out of her notebook or old ones she no longer used. She was close… so very, _very_ close… and then she could wrap up her contract and come back to spend as much time with Kanji and the rest of the Team as she wished. Not long after her current assignment began, she had asked her grandfather to only send either local cases or those she could work remotely until she finished her third year at Yasogami High, after which she would be willing to take cases requiring travel again. Honestly, wishing to disrupt her final year of pre-university studies _was_ the primary motivation behind her request, but she wouldn’t deny the added benefit of additional time with one former delinquent as possible, especially since she knew he would want her help when it came to studying.

She glanced up from her notes in her moment of distraction to stretch and refocus and noticed someone else was out on the floodplain as early as she was, for a morning run by the looks of it. She couldn’t quite make out who it was due to the rising sun reflecting off the water and directly into her eyes, but as the figure drew closer, she realized she knew it very, very well… though she had never really observed it in this state before.

“Hey Naoto! What’re you doin’ here this early?” 

Kanji jogged up towards the pavilion, stopping short of the concrete as he leaned over to catch his breath. The early morning light glistened off the sweat collecting on his bare arms and shoulders, catching in a drop running down the side of his neck. His hair was still bleached from the Festival but without the usual amount of product, so it fell in front of his eyes as he straightened and he luridly raked it into its old style using his fingers to get it out of his face. His dark grey sweatpants were old, but in excellent shape considering the obvious wear, and he candidly tightened the drawstring to better secure them around his hips.

Naoto found the entire sight _immensely_ distracting.

“I-I’m… _ahem._ Well, work,” she said lamely as she gestured to the papers strewn across the tabletop, weighted down by rocks and things she had on hand to keep from blowing away in the early morning breeze. Kanji lumbered closer to the table, lifting the tail of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow as he did so, and Naoto found her mouth suddenly very dry. She had seen his immaculately toned stomach before without incident, on a beach trip earlier that summer, but the effect it had on her now was… unexpected.

“Man, d’you ever take a real break?” Kanji teased as he grabbed a seat across from her, scowling down at the bench once he did so as it was still damp. “Damnit, now it’s gonna look like I sweated right through my pants…”

Naoto snorted in spite of herself. “Apologies, Kanji. I didn’t think I would need that side of the table, so I neglected to dry it off.”

“Ain’t nothin’ to be sorry for, Naoto,” he said dismissively, opting to ignore the plight of his backside for the time being. “I thought you’d already made the break in the case you needed. Why’re you still killin’ yourself over the small stuff?”

“The minutiae is _precisely_ where my attention should be as I solidify my theory,” she contended, waving her pen back and forth as if to scold him. “It’s the ‘small stuff’ that can make – or break – a case, after all.” She pointed the tip of her pen towards the pavilion roof as she continued. “Recall the seemingly insignificant details we glossed over in our determination to find Namatame-san guilty of last year’s events, from the phrasing of the letters Yu-Senpai received, to the lack of an appropriate reaction from Detective Adachi when we examined the crash site.”

Kanji hung on her every word as he scanned the documents covering the table, his brow drawn in thought. “Yeah… guess you got a point. I-I mean, not that you wouldn’t, y’know? This is your life here.”

His words pleased her even as they registered as a bit… off. “My life…” she echoed quietly, looking down at the organized chaos between them. His expression took an anxious turn, like he thought he’d said something wrong. This did not escape her notice, and she shook her head genially to reassure him. “Don’t worry, Kanji. I was just… reflecting.”

“’Bout what?”

Naoto placed her chin in her hand and rested her elbow on a clean spot along the table’s edge. Her eyes narrowed inquisitively, lips pursed in thought, and it was a solid moment before she answered him. “I suppose… how much my life has changed since meeting all of you, how _your_ involvement in particular with the case was the catalyst to all of it… and how things have yet remained the same as before.” At the curious tilt of his head, she went on. “This-“ she swept a hand over the mess of documents- “isn’t so different from my modus operandi prior to my coming to this town, meticulously examining even the smallest detail I could find over and over, even finding somewhere without people but with a decent amount of white noise in which to think. When I didn’t have so many papers with me, my favorite spot was in a tree somewhere - the higher, the better.” She raised her eyes until they met his, her gaze laden with as much nostalgia as affection for him. “But I never imagined all of this wouldn’t be my _entire_ day, or that the rest of it would include someone who cares for me as much as I for him.”

Kanji’s face lit up as bright as the sun still ascending behind him as he reached across the table to take the hand she had extended towards him. She took little note of the blush warming her cheeks as his thumb caressed the back of her hand, just as on the agency apartment’s couch two nights prior, and she happily squeezed at her connection with him. 

“Me neither,” he sighed, his eyes glazed over in contentment until something gave him a start. “Uh! The, er… spending the day with somebody part, anyway. Yeah. Thought I’d just be at the shop… obviously not out solvin’ crimes an' shit.” He scratched the back of his head with his free hand before hopping up from the bench, letting her go in the process. His body twisted unnaturally in his attempt to examine the seat of his pants, despite pulling the excess material taut at an angle to maximize the field of view. He let himself unwind with a scowl, brushing his hands quickly across his rear as if it would decrease the drying time. “You gettin’ hungry at all?” he asked, emphasizing every other word with another swipe at his backside.

“I have yet to eat, if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied, the corner of her mouth curling as she watched him.

“It’s just… I gotta head back to the shop soon, but if you wanna just come with me now…”

Naoto’s eyes went wide and she waved her hands anxiously in front of her. “O-oh! Kanji, I… I couldn’t impose on your mother on such short notice-“

“We have this really great coffee Ma found on her last trip to Kyoto. _And_ this fancy new French press she got from one of the shop’s partners that we haven’t used yet.”

“...This is blackmail, you know," she muttered.

Kanji laughed, looking rather pleased with himself, and moved to help her pick up, stopping just short of taking one of the sheets out from beneath its makeshift paperweight. “Uh, do these… need to be in some kinda order or anything…?”

She took a moment to appreciate his thoughtfulness as she stood, brushing herself off as well. “Not especially, no. I can rearrange them later this evening. Thank you for checking.”

Clean-up was a small matter with two working at it, and the pair soon made their way down the floodplain side by side after everything was back in its place. Kanji had insisted on carrying Naoto’s briefcase, not because he thought she _couldn’t_ , but because he thought _he_ should. Her first instinct had been to refuse him, but she relented, knowing just how much he enjoyed doing things for others; far be it for her to deny him that over a thing as silly as an overdeveloped sense of self-reliance. “You know, Kanji,” she said as they turned onto the side street leading to the Shopping District, “I don’t believe you ever mentioned exercising in the mornings. I never saw you do so when I was keeping tabs on you during the case last year.”

Kanji’s brows shot up as he whipped his head towards her. “You... you were spyin' on me? Why?”

“I believed - correctly, I might add - that you would be the killer’s next victim,” she explained. “You fit the profile. Not to mention our senpai were also following you around, and I was tracking _them_ at the time as well.”

“O-oh.” Kanji fell silent, weakly clearing his throat every so often as if the quiet was a bit too much for him at times. She considered his shift in mood carefully before speaking again.

“Are you… upset?” she asked hesitantly.

“Nah! J-just…" A grunt, then a heavy sigh. "I dunno. ashamed, I guess. I was pretty messed up back then, especially when you weren’t around for me to make an idiot of myself in front of.” He raked his fingers through his hair as earlier, kicking at a pebble near their feet as they walked on. The gas station was coming into view now; they didn’t have much further to go and she _could_ have just left it alone, but the contempt he held for his former self never sat well with her as it ignored the fact that several of his finer qualities shone brightly amidst his obvious personal turmoil. She brought to mind one of her first and favorite recollections of him, hoping it would boost his spirits. 

“There's no need for such derision, Kanji. You impressed me back then even when you _didn’t_ know I was there.”

He stopped abruptly and stared at her and she turned halfway to face him. “Huh?”

“You helped a little boy once… do you remember? I witnessed your initial exchange.” Naoto's expression softened as she replayed the scene in her mind, the consideration and maturity he displayed throughout the interaction particularly memorable. “You got down on his level and offered to help, but at the same time didn’t allow him to shirk his responsibility of apologizing to the friend he’d hurt. I was dazzled by how you handled that situation, and at that moment, my view of you was turned on its head. I caught my first glimpse of the _real_ you then, and I wasn't the least disappointed.”

“Naoto…”

The thick, raw emotion in his voice, the almost reverent tone with which he said her name, caused quite the internal reaction. Her entire face pulsed with heat and she turned her head to the side in an effort to hide it. “S-so, you never answered my question,” she stammered, grasping desperately for a change in subject.

“Huh? What question?”

She paused, wincing as she realized the reason for his confusion. “Oh… ah-I suppose it was more implied than actually spoken, I’m sorry. I was curious as to when you started your morning exercise routine.”

Kanji gave a halfhearted shrug, focusing on the path in front of them as they made their way through the Shopping District, occasionally nodding in greeting to other townspeople as they passed. “It was after we saved Rise an’ Teddie from their Shadows,” he said simply. “Teddie got kinda… well, _really_ flattened, but he started doin’ sit-ups the second we all got back to the entrance even though he'd gone all pancake on us. It was kinda motivatin’, y’know?” He rolled his head to stretch his neck, then his shoulders, jostling his arms in an effort to loosen the joints. “Anyway, I'd been liftin' weights for a while, ‘cause I wanted to… I dunno, look intimidating, I guess… heh, sounds stupid, now… but I didn’t have as much stamina as the others. It was hard sometimes to keep up, especially with Yosuke-Senpai, and I felt like I was holdin’ ‘em back when they had to cover for me in fights. So I asked Chie-Senpai for advice and she told me two things.”

“Which were?” Naoto pressed, though she had her suspicions.

“Eat more meat,” he ticked off with his thumb, then flipped up his index finger, “and start runnin’ every day.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Chie-Senpai’s preoccupation with meat is… interesting, to say the least. Actually, it's impressive, in its own way.”

“Yeah, well… I didn’t really change what I eat, but I did start workin’ out every morning. Ma has to get up real early to take care of some stuff before the shop opens, so I started gettin’ up with her. And now, it’s just… part of what I do."

"Even though the case has long since been closed?" she pointed out, and Kanji shrugged again.

"Yeah. I mean, whenever I felt like maybe I was wastin’ my energy, I told myself there might be a time we’d have to fight again. I kept remindin' myself of how much I want to protect you - er, everybody - if I ever felt like skippin' out.” He grinned sheepishly, shifting her briefcase to his other hand to free the one between them, and promptly threaded his fingers with hers. “Turns out I was right, twice! The energy boost helped a lot with the dancin’, too.”

“Hm…” Naoto dropped her gaze, tapping her chin in contemplation. “You know, you raise an important point, Kanji.”

“I do?”

He did. “We do seem to encounter trouble more than one would reasonably expect. Staying in shape with regular cardiovascular training is an excellent idea." She paused for a fraction of a second before continuing. "I... think I'll join you from time to time, if you don't mind. I don’t typically run as a means of exercise, but it might not be so bad if you're with me.”

Kanji gave her hand a squeeze before he dropped it, beaming down at her as they reached the back door of his home. “That would be great! Just tell me when you wanna come along and I’ll come to you.” With that, Kanji opened the door, holding it for Naoto to enter first before he followed suit. He put her briefcase down by the shoe rack and wiggled his feet free of his trainers as Naoto removed her boots, the latter replacing her shoes with slippers. (Naoto wasn’t sure what it said that she already had a designated pair in the entryway… though Rise also had her own house shoes she'd left behind on one of her many visits.) “Make yourself at home,” he prompted as they made their way into the living room, jerking his head towards the couch as he passed it. “I’m gonna go change and let Ma know you’re here.”

Naoto nodded after him, allowing herself to watch him as he hurried further into the house. She would never admit to doing so if asked, but there was no way she going to let him leave without committing that view to memory, even though she was certain to see it again after volunteering herself as his running partner. Removing her cap and placing it on the arm of the couch, she settled back onto the edge of the middle cushion and inhaled deeply. She could already smell rice cooking, along with what she suspected was miso and some type of kobachi, and casually wondered if their cooker had a timer or if Kanji or his mother set it up first thing every morning. How long were Kanji’s morning excursions, on that note? The town wasn’t _that_ big and his legs were so long, so even at a leisurely pace, it might take him… an hour? somewhere around there? to run a loop that would take him through the floodplain… curious. She made a mental note to inquire later in the day.

“Oh, good morning, Naoto-kun! You’re here quite early.” Naoto jumped at the sound of Mrs. Tatsumi’s gentle voice and shot up from the couch to face her.

“Tatsumi-san! G-good morning,” she stammered, bowing at the waist in deference to her host. “I apologize for intruding so early…”

Kanji’s mother waved her hand nonchalantly. “Don’t be silly, dear, Kanji already told me he ran into you by the river and brought you home to save you from all the work you were doing.” Her tone held its usual cheer, and she turned with a gesture indicating she wanted Naoto to follow her into the kitchen. “I admire your drive, especially at such a young age. It’s had quite the impression on my son. Between you and Yu-kun, I dare say Kanji-chan may just pass every one of his classes by the end of this year.”

Naoto hid her smile behind her hand as she tailed the older woman, embarrassed by the praise by pleased nonetheless. “Kanji-kun has improved his grades drastically primarily through his own efforts; I merely serve to keep him on task and occasionally explain a difficult concept. I’m… really proud of his progress thus far.”

“As am I, my girl. As am I.” Kanji’s mother motioned to a chair for Naoto to take and went about her business in the kitchen, her every movement fluid and graceful as it was routine. Naoto watched in fascination; her only point of reference for this sort of thing was Yakushiji-san or one of the other employees at the estate, so this was, as far as she could remember, the first time she had been able to observe the way a mother runs her household. It was clear everything had its place, from the flatware, to mugs versus cups and glasses, to cookware and appliances. Everything she did seemed effortless - the way she eased the flame down under the just-whistling kettle by turning a knob she didn't even have to look at to locate, how she transitioned easily from the refrigerator, where she retrieved a small paper bag, to the counter space next to the stove where a French press stood at the ready. “Kanji-chan mentioned you were interested in this coffee I bought in the city,” she said pleasantly over her shoulder as she carefully measured out the grounds and placed them aside before returning the bag to its original location. “He said he wanted to make it for you, but I think I’m going to pull rank on him and do it myself, just this once.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting it myself if you need to attend to other things,” Naoto offered, rising from her chair even though she knew she would be refused. It seemed rude _not_ to offer, especially since her presence _was_ last-minute. As expected, Mrs. Tatsumi immediately dismissed her with a flip of her hand.

“Nonsense. It’s the least I can do, after everything you’ve done for my son.”

The warmth with which Mrs. Tatsumi spoke filled her with emotion and her heart began to ache, but not unpleasantly. For the first time in memory, she felt some semblance of home in a place that wasn’t the estate. Perhaps it was a talent all mothers had, to make their visitors feel like they belonged, or maybe it was just something inherent in the Tatsumi bloodline as Kanji had much the same capability. She returned the affection through her expression and bowed again, this time in appreciation rather than out of respect. “No show of gratitude is necessary, Tatsumi-san. Kanji-kun has done as much for me, if not more than I for him. But you’re very kind, thank you.” Mrs. Tatsumi beamed at her before turning back to the coffee preparations and Naoto sat back down, smiling at the back of the matriarch before her. She speculated on whether she would have spent time in the kitchen with her mother like this, if her father would have been at the table with a mess of case files covering it similar to her workspace by the river this morning. She imagined her mother turning her back on a sizzling wok with spatula in hand to point out some obscure testimonial bullet-point her father had overlooked in the chaos, while she herself would have prepared cups of tea or coffee for all of them according to individual preference. _Would I have had siblings?_ She would have taken a seat across from her father and gone through the notes she had taken on whatever case they were working on, expounding upon them as they connected the dots, perhaps linking some of her own, earning her place with them and establishing her worth as a Shirogane. Would they be proud of her now...?

“Hey Ma, where’s that- Naoto? What’s wrong?”

Naoto blinked rapidly as Kanji's worry freed of her contemplation, perplexed by how blurry her vision was until she was able to establish that tears were the cause. She swiped hastily at her face in shame to clear what had escaped to her cheeks, then shook her head vigorously to clear it before looking up to find Kanji and his mother both watching her with concern. “It’s nothing, Kanji-kun, I was just… thinking. Nothing of consequence. I apologize for worrying you both.”

“You sure?” Kanji pressed, and she nodded, offering a genuine smile to placate him. The way his brow furrowed told her he was nothing of the sort, but he thankfully let the matter drop for the time being. Now that her attention was back in the room, she realized his hair was damp, a few droplets flying in random directions as he scrubbed at it with the towel draped around his neck. She _also_ realized he was lacking a shirt, and that the way his jeans hung off his hips was rather aesthetically pleasing. Kanji’s mother turning towards her was the only thing that tore her gaze away from the sight and she focused very, very hard on the steaming mug being served to her.

“Here you are, dear,” Mrs. Tatsumi said (playfully to Naoto’s great dismay). The young detective awkwardly nodded her appreciation.

“Ma! You didn’t need to do that, I told ya I’d take care of it!” Kanji protested loudly, and his mother's brow raised indignantly.

“Well I _certainly_ wasn’t going to make her wait, Kanji-chan,” she replied airily, turning back to the breakfast preparation. Whatever she was making now smelled glorious, and Naoto placed a hand over her stomach as it rumbled quietly. “I don’t know how she takes her coffee, though, so you can handle that." Mrs. Tatsumi glanced over her shoulder, not enough to make eye contact but enough to display the mischief in her expression. "Your shirt, by the way, is hanging where you left it in the dye room yesterday – you may want to handle _that_ first, don’t you think?”

Predictably, Kanji's cheeks exploded with color and he whipped the towel off his neck as his fists clenched defensively at his sides. “S-shuddup, Ma, geez!” With that, he turned on a dime and ran from the room. His mother chuckled softly and mumbled something under her breath as she stirred the pot of miso soup on the stove.

Naoto cleared her throat as discreetly as she could in an attempt to rid it of the lump that found its way there and lifted the mug to smell its contents. It was definitely some kind of darker roast, rich and bodied, nutty with the level of bitterness one would expect from such a blend. Blowing lightly across the surface of the liquid first, she brought the cup to her lips and sipped cautiously. There was a hint of hazelnut and nutmeg in the aftertaste, she noted with surprise; this must have been an expensive imported brand. Her eyes slid shut in bliss and she held the mug just in front of her mouth so the fragrant steam could waft against her nose. She only opened them again when Kanji came bounding back into the room, fully dressed this time but hair still slightly damp and slicked back. She watched as he stopped short inside the doorway and straightened his clothing and hair with a bashful smile in her direction before he crossed to the fridge in three large strides, emerging from behind the open door with a packaged cut of fish and a bottle of soy sauce. He then nudged a lower cabinet door open with his foot, reached in, and withdrew a frying pan of considerable size and weight. Mrs. Tatsumi covered the soup pot and moved out of the way to allow Kanji the space he needed to cook the fish, taking a moment to collect a number of plates and bowls from yet another cabinet. Naoto admired their synchronicity as they moved around each other. The easy flow of conversation regarding plans for the rest of the day, how Kanji’s run went, whether or not he had started the summer reading yet (he had not), who would take care of what for the shop at what time... she was in awe of it all. The entire scenario was far more… domestic than Naoto was accustomed to, and it surprised her just how much she appreciated it, since it wasn’t something she’d grown up with or felt had been missing from her life to that point.

As Kanji handed her a bottle of non-dairy creamer while waiting for the pan to pre-heat, she realized she was afraid, even to _attempt_ getting used to it, simply because of how much it would hurt if and when she lost it.

~*~

The sun was setting now, and Naoto was leaning forward against the fence at the top of the hill, Kanji directly to her right finishing off a Topsicle. She had since finished her small taiyaki ice cream – the first she'd had, Kanji had been horrified to learn – and tossed a wet-nap into the nearby trash can after wiping her hands clean of residual stickiness. (Taiyaki _was_ very good, but certainly not the neatest method for eating frozen yogurt.)

“So what’d’ya think?” Kanji asked after swallowing the last bite of his Topsicle. He reached over her head to toss the stick into the trash and accepted the wet-nap she held out for him.

“Excellent, especially the custard filling as opposed to red bean paste,” she told him, watching as he, too, cleaned his hands and easily tossed the used wipe behind her back and into the can. “A little messy, though.”

Kanji looked down at her after settling back against the fence and grinned. “I can see that.”

Well. That was an odd response. She scrunched her brows together in question. “What?”

“Here,” he said just above a whisper, taking his thumb and swiping it against a spot near the corner of her mouth. “I, uh... don’t think y’were savin’ that for later.” Naoto’s eyes shot open and she furiously wiped her hand over the same area Kanji had just cleared, feeling the heat of embarrassment radiate off her skin.

“O-of course not, don’t be ridiculous,” she muttered, clearing her throat awkwardly as Kanji laughed and scraped his thumb off on the lower fence railing. “Thank you, f-for getting rid of it for me.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence as the bright reds and oranges of the evening faded into pinks and purples, the brightest stars already dotting the sky above them. Crickets sang to each other until the cicadas drowned them out, and one by one, street lights flickered to life, giving the town the appearance of a mirror to its parallel.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever really stopped to appreciate just how beautiful this town is,” Naoto marveled quietly, and her companion hummed in agreement. The atmosphere notwithstanding, Naoto felt a sudden surge of affection for him and leaned against his side, resting her head against the broad surface of his shoulder. She made no effort to hide her delight as he took her hand, and she wrapped the other around his wrist. They stood there together until the last light of the sun dipped below the horizon, giving way to the deepest blues and purples.

“Hey Naoto,” Kanji prompted as the two watched four men in rumpled suits walking at the base of the hill in the direction of the Shopping District. Naoto surmised they were on their way to the pub Shiroku-san operated afterhours.

“Hm?” she replied comfortably, looking away from the small group and up at him without moving her head from its perch on his shoulder.

"You wanna talk about whatever was bothering you this morning?"

"Another time," she politely declined, shaking her head in a way that doubled as nuzzling his arm. "It really wasn't anything to worry about."

"You were cryin'," he contended, glancing over at the top of her head. "That ain't nothin' when it comes to you."

"I suppose. But I promise it wasn't because I was upset."

Kanji opened his mouth as if to press the issue further, but gave a quiet sigh instead and squeezed her hand. "Okay. I'm here when you wanna talk about it, though."

"I know." The two fell into silence again, the young men out of sight but their raucous laughter floating back to them on the evening breeze. All the streetlights had come on now, and her eyes struggled to adjust to the deep, almost suffocating blue that always preceded the inky darkness of night. Kanji shifted against her and she touched her brow to his arm for a moment, basking in the warmth he always gave off.

"One o-other thing," he said suddenly, sounding more like he used to around her than over the last few days.

"What is it?" she asked, trailing her hand up and down the length of his arm in a show of support.

“Not that this... m-me an' you bein' all cute an' shit, I mean, ain’t really, _really_ nice, but…” He stopped, seeming at a loss as to how he should continue. His apprehension troubled her, and she straightened to her full height as a means of indicating her undivided attention. “I didn’t really think you’d be so… cuddly, y’know? ‘Specially when we’re out in public. You even started callin’ me by just my name when it's just us.” Naoto cocked her head to the side in contemplation; he was right, of course, and she had considered the very same abnormality since, really, the beginning of the events concerning the Midnight Stage. She had used her dancing as an opportunity to flirt with him, to show her recently realized interest in him beyond friendship, and then there was her uncharacteristic boldness as she spurred him on throughout his confession. But those things had been mostly private, not really warranting further thought. Kanji's observation, however... why _was_ she so at ease with public displays of affection with him?

He must have misunderstood her silence, because he stepped away from her and anxiously grasped her hands. “N-not that I don’t like it, like I said, ‘cause I really do! I just… I don’t want ya to think ya _have_ to do all that stuff if you’re not cool with it, y’know?”

Naoto finally understood the concept of "melting." His worry was incredibly touching, if misplaced, and so very like him to consider. She lifted onto her tiptoes and let her lips linger on his cheek for a moment before she dropped back down. “It is a bit… out of character for me,” she admitted, training her eyes on their joined hands, "and I have been thinking about it a little. Honestly, if it was anyone else, I’d probably be a complete mess, constantly tripping over my words, worrying about my femininity... perhaps even trying to change drastically to better fit the social norm lest I embarrass my partner. But with you…” She lifted her gaze to meet his, eyes clear as she regarded him. “Everything feels… natural. Behaving in this manner is comfortable. Perhaps it’s because of how tightly knit our friendship has been, or maybe it has something to do with our Personas, but I’m not really uneasy around you. …Much, anyway,” she added, thinking back to the ice cream on her cheek.

Kanji's expression softened and he nodded before wrapping his arms around her and drawing her against his chest. “I think I know what ya mean,” he said, kissing the top of her head before resting his chin on it. Naoto sighed contentedly, reveling in how safe she felt when he held her like this. “No complaints though, yeah?”

She tilted her chin enough to catch his gaze through half-lidded eyes, craning her neck to get closer as he bent his to do the same. "Indeed,” she whispered just as they met in the middle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~This chapter is more than twice the length of the last one lol why do I do this to myself~~
> 
> I love getting in Naoto's head, in case you couldn't tell. 
> 
> Decided to use the P4 Animation version of Kanji helping the kid with the lost bunny. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I wish it had been feasible to show it that way in the game as well because it's just... _ugh_ my heart
> 
> OH, and as far as Inaba's geographical location, since it's technically not a real town (anymore) -- from what I've been able to find, Inaba was an old province in part of what is now the Tottori Prefecture. While the actual place Inaba's appearance is based on is in the Yamanashi Prefecture just south of Nagano, that area is land-locked and the distance to the ocean is too great for scooters. However, the northern border of the Tottori Prefecture _is_ the ocean, so this region makes more sense. It's also the least populated prefecture in Japan and a major center of agriculture, which also fits. There's also no Okina City in reality, but there are four major cities in the area, and either Tottori City or Yonago could feasibly serve as inspirations for Okina. (Interestingly, there's a castle in Yonago that was built by the Amag _o_ clan in the early 17th century, so I've decided that city is supposed to be Okina just because of the similarity to Amagi.) Kyoto and Osaka are both within a reasonable distance from the prefecture - 2-3 hours by train - and as the former is more traditional/historical than Osaka, I could see Mrs. Tatsumi traveling there periodically for business. It's like if I took a trip out to LA or NYC to troll their fashion districts for my next cosplay or something ~~which I have totally done~~. Anyway. I spend way too much time researching tiny details for the sake of realism
> 
> Also, yes - I abso-friggin-lutely took a swipe at Naoto's romance route with Yu, which I only watched to get a grasp on her canon behavior around a love interest. Atlus, you know I love you, but what the actual fuck with the higher voice shit and Christmas Eve entirely and the fact that asking her to change is even an **option** _*fumes*_


	3. Day Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which games are played and lessons are learned.

The third day in Inaba, Rise was due back in town now that post-Festival press was over with, and she had already organized a meetup with everyone at the Usual Spot around lunchtime. Kanji ran his hand through his hair, depositing a new pomade he’d ordered, using the other hand to arrange each strand just so. He had decided to try out a new style on a whim, less straight back and more of a half-deflated pompadour at the front. He thought it would make his hairline look a bit less severe while still keeping his hair out of his face; turns out he was right. _Maybe this’ll look as good when I go back to black,_ he thought, primping with both sides of his comb in an effort to secure any flyaway hairs. Once satisfied, he put a white button-down shirt over his charcoal grey t-shirt and went to tell his mother he was leaving.

The usual trek to Junes was pretty short, and he walked leisurely along the familiar path with his hands shoved in his pockets. He ran his thumb along the edge of the notebook stuffed at the bottom of one of them, smiling to himself as its previous owner came to mind. He had hoped to meet up with her before heading to the food court so they could arrive together, but she had said she needed to take care of a few things before she left the estate. It was just as well; he had things of his own to see to, namely the charms for Rise. He was nearly done with one and had started the other, and expected to be completely finished with both in the next couple of days. Rise had told him she planned to be in town for the rest of the time Yu and Naoto were staying and would take the train back to Tokyo with them, giving him just enough time to get both done and in her hands. Kanji wished desperately that he could go with them and keep Naoto company as she tied up loose ends, but he’d probably just be a distraction and he had responsibilities at the shop he didn’t feel right dumping on his mom last-minute.

After walking through the automatic doors into Junes, Kanji made a quick stop at the beverage counter and grabbed a lemon soda for himself and a lychee-flavored one to give to Naoto when she arrived (unless she had gotten there before him), then made his way to the rooftop food court. He scanned the crowd carefully, finally lighting upon a familiar duo of green and red. “Hey Yukiko-senpai, Chie-senpai,” he greeted as he approached, taking a seat across from them at the large round table they had claimed.

“Hello, Kanji-kun,” Yukiko returned as Chie waved with a mouthful of takoyaki. “You look nice today! Did you style your hair differently?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. “Thanks.”

“Sodaaaa,” Chie whined once she’d swallowed her food, envying the two bottles Kanji had placed in front of him and the seat next to him. “I forgot to get one.”

“Oh sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t think to get one for everybody.”

“Just for you and Naoto-kun, huh?” she teased. Kanji scowled, but nodded regardless. “Don’t worry, we were gonna hit up Yosuke anyway.”

“Uh, don't take this the wrong way, but… you ever think you might spend a little _too_ much of his money?” He knew Yosuke wasn’t broke, but the dude _was_ just a part-timer.

“No,” both girls responded in unison. Kanji chewed on the corner of his mouth and shrugged helplessly. At least it wasn’t _his_ bank account…

“Yo, guys, what’s shakin’?” As if the mere mention of his name had summoned him, Yosuke appeared nearby, pulling his apron off over his head and draping it over the back of the chair next to Chie. 

“You in a minute,” Kanji muttered under his breath.

“Oh, nothing,” Chie answered innocently as he plopped down in his chair. The casual air about her was so overexaggerated, the Junes heir was _already_ eyeing her suspiciously. “You know, Yosuke, we were just talkin’ about how super thirsty we are. How about getting Yukiko and I something to drink?”

Yosuke sputtered and slammed his palms against his knees as he shot upright. “Wha- I- you- what the hell, Chie, buy your own damn drinks for once! We’re not even dating!”

“But I forgot my wallet,” she complained (Kanji would have pointed out her not-free takoyaki if his survival instinct hadn't kicked in). “And us not dating never stopped you before!” 

“I’d buy them, but I just spent the last of my money on a study guide for my licensing exam next month,” Yukiko explained. That… was probably true.

“Ughhhh,” Yosuke groaned, his head flopping back in defeat. “Why don’t you just come work here with me if you’re so hard up for money all the time? We’re hiring more part-timers, and you get one free meal per shift.”

“Tempting,” Chie said, tapping her chin with her forefinger thoughtfully. “But nah, I won’t have enough time to study for the police entrance exam if I get a job here.”

“Argh, _fine_ … but you owe me, Chie.”

“Why just me?!”

“Because Yukiko actually used her money on something productive and didn’t lie to me about forgetting her wallet!”

“How _dare_ you accuse me of lying, you je-“

“Explain, then, where that takoyaki came from if Yukiko didn’t have the money for it and you don’t have your wallet.” Evidently, Yosuke had no survival instinct.

“I- uhhh Kanji got it for me! Yeah!”

Kanji nearly choked on his soda upon hearing his name. “Wh- hey, don't drag me into this!”

“CHIE, you little LIAR!”

Pounding on his chest with his fist until he recovered, Kanji tuned the two of them out as their argument stretched on and took another drink of his soda in an effort to ease the tightness in his throat. He kept sweeping his gaze across the food court periodically, barely paying attention to the others sitting with him. She was due to arrive any minute…

“Lookin’ for Naoto, Kanji?” When he thought about it later, he wasn’t sure why he was so enraged by Yosuke’s teasing anymore; it’s not like his relationship with the detective wasn’t common knowledge within the group. Maybe it was just habit by this point, after how much crap he’d taken from his senpai over the time he'd known him. He glared at the older boy, about to deliver some scathing retort, when a familiar shade of dark blue flashed in his peripheral vision and wiped away his anger. Kanji turned his head in that direction – only to have his lips meet the pair that had been coming in to kiss his cheek. His eyes bolted wide in surprise, as did Naoto’s – who had walked up behind him while he was distracted by Yosuke – and they split apart instantly, their cheeks aflame. Yosuke started cheering, drawing the attention of the entire food court to the couple's dismay, Chie doubled over laughing, and the future inn manager’s eyebrows raised slightly in recognition. 

“Oh! There she is, Kanji-kun” she pointed out.

“I’m pretty sure he already knows, Yukiko,” Chie snorted. Yukiko was incredibly intelligent, but sometimes… one had to wonder.

“What’s going on, everyone?” Yu finally arrived with Marie in tow. The two new arrivals observed the behavior at the table, and Yu just smiled, with something that might have been pride, while Marie just seemed confused.

“Uh, what _is_ going on?” Marie repeated, genuinely perplexed.

“I-it’s nothing to concern yourselves with,” Naoto floundered, having since taken the seat at Kanji’s side. He pushed the lychee soda closer to her as she did so, still dazed by the accidental kiss. 

“Thank you, Kanji-kun, this is perfect,” she smiled, distracting herself with removing the plastic safety wrapper that secured the cap to the bottle.

“So was your timing with that head-turn, am I right?”

“Yosuke, what will it take to shut you up?” Chie groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

“Why not try what Naoto did, Chie? That seemed to work rather well with Kanji-kun,” Yukiko suggested with her usual genuine desire to help, opting to ignore how they nearly fell out of their seats. 

“Aw, I’m missing all the fun!” Rise had just arrived and walked up next to Yu, taking his arm with no regard for the glare Marie was giving her.

“Hey Rise, glad you could make it,” he greeted her, pulling out the two chairs on either side of the one he was standing behind for the girls to take, quickly taking his own to act as a buffer between them. 

“Did you miss me, Senpai?” Rise cooed, and Kanji felt the hair on his arms raise just slightly. He'd felt this once before, at the hot springs when Marie- oh shit.

Yu smiled awkwardly, undoubtedly aware of the electric tension emitting from the minor goddess, and held his free hand up in surrender. “It’s only been a couple of days, Rise,” he said, trying to laugh it off. 

“But that can feel like _sooo_ long, don’t you think?” she persisted, openly gazing at him in adoration. “It feels like forever since the Festival ended!” Her face suddenly went blank and she shot upright, fixing a glare on her fellow third-years. “Speaking of, I haven’t gotten _any_ details from either of you since you got back! Spill it, Naoto-kun.”

Naoto had the good sense to try and dissuade her from this topic of conversation, though it did make for an excellent means of diffusing Marie’s anger. “I… I hardly think this is the appropriate setting for such things, Rise-san,” she hastily insisted. Rise, however, was having none of it.

“Oh come on, you two just _kissed_ in front of everybody! Don’t act all shy now.” She leaned forward in anticipation with her chin propped up in her hands.

“I meant that for his cheek.”

“It wasn't like we were tryin' to, damnit!”

Both Naoto and Kanji protested Rise’s info-grab in stereo, both as red in the face as the other, the former regretting her decision to leave her cap at home. Rise giggled, taking Yu’s arm again in delight. “I’m just teasing, you two. You don’t know how thrilled I am that I don’t have to watch Kanji all but kill himself to keep his feelings secret. As far as I’m concerned, you two don’t kiss enough.”

“Perhaps we do, just not in public?” Kanji started, staring at the young woman at his side in shock. Had _she_ really just said that? Out _loud?_ “Isn’t that right, Kanji?” _Whoa._ She dropped the honorific, too, in front of _everybody_. He furrowed his brow at her suspiciously, reached over, and picked up the now half-empty bottle in front of her, bringing it close to his nose and sniffing carefully.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Chie asked dryly.

“Checkin’ to make sure this ain’t booze,” he muttered, as rest of the group howled with laughter. Naoto took her soda bottle back from him and grinned mischievously as she leaned over to place a kiss to his cheek. Kanji swallowed so hard, he was sure everybody would’ve been able to hear it if not for the noise level.

“What, can I not be playful without being intoxicated?” Naoto asked, her expression and tone innocent but the sparkle in her eyes betraying her. Kanji’s insides flipped excitedly, his heart pounding in his chest. She was _seriously_ flirting with him openly like this, in the middle of the goddamn food court. Despite being caught off balance, Kanji knew a challenge when he saw one, especially given the way the corner of Naoto’s mouth curled up just slightly, and he willed away the blood pooling in his face. She wanted to play, huh? Okay, then. He could play.

~*~

The group decided to take their scooters (Kanji had finally gotten his license a few months earlier despite his insistence that a bike was all he needed) to Okina City for the day once Teddie had come off shift. A new arcade had opened there recently and Yosuke especially was itching to try it out. Teddie rode behind Chie on her bike as it was the only one rated for two passengers, peppering her with questions as to what he should expect from the excursion – were there lots of girls at arcades, was the dim lighting supposed to create a romantic atmosphere, and what was the best way to take advantage of that? Needless to say, he was lucky he made the trip without being kicked off of her bike and onto the shoulder en route. He quickly hopped off upon arrival and hid behind Rise, sensing the girl’s wrath. 

Once in the arcade, the group split into smaller cliques – Chie, Yukiko, and Marie, Yu with Yosuke and Teddie, and Rise with Naoto and Kanji. At first, Kanji couldn’t help the disappointment he felt from not having Naoto to himself, but he figured an audience might help make this competition-of-sorts more interesting. At every opportunity, he made sure to keep at least one hand somewhere on Naoto’s person, testing the waters as discreetly as he could to see what would rattle her the most. Reaching down over the back of the racing game’s seatback to trail a finger lightly along the side of her neck made her ears turn pink and she ran off course a couple of times, but otherwise she kept her cool. Wrapping his hand around the curve of her waist and slipping his thumb under the hem of her blouse, gently running it along the soft skin just above the waistband of her cropped slacks, definitely gave her pause as she tapped away at a fighting game's controls, but she didn’t lose (much to Rise’s dismay). Coming up behind her, grasping her hips, and pulling her backside flush against him, pressing the pads of his fingers into the soft flesh overlying her pelvic crests as if playing a piano, came closest to the effect he was going for, if her nearly dropping the plastic rifle she was aiming at an enemy-filled screen was any indication. She finished the round, despite needing to reload more than she might have otherwise. Rise took over to play the next round just as Yu’s group walked up behind them. 

“Hey Senpai, you mind stayin’ here with Rise for a bit? Naoto said she was gettin’ thirsty so I’m gonna go with her to find a vending machine,” Kanji announced, taking the detective’s hand and pulling her towards him. Yu narrowed his eyes just slightly, as did Rise when she eyed him over her shoulder, and stared him down for a moment before nodding with a smile that told him he was fooling no one. _Who gives a shit if they know or not – did a favor for Rise and got a chance to get this girl alone for a sec._ Kanji had seen a photo booth earlier on and made a beeline in what he thought was the right direction, holding tightly to Naoto’s hand all the while.

“Kanji-kun, where are we going?” she inquired in amusement, weaving through the crowd behind him at something of a trot in order to keep up. “And why did you lie to Senpai?”

“Don’t matter,” he said over his shoulder, throwing her a smile that was far too innocent for his mindset. After a minute or two, he finally spotted the thankfully-deserted booth and, after ensuring no one was inside either, held the curtain back for Naoto to enter and followed in her wake. The noise of the arcade was muffled in the enclosed space, removed and insulated as it was, and Kanji swore his heartbeat was loud enough to bounce off the walls. Naoto glanced up at him as he messed with the curtain to close it before turning to examine the options on the screen.

“Kanji, we could have just taken a photo with my ph-mmph!”

Once he was sure no one could see inside the booth, Kanji whipped around and grabbed Naoto, one hand wrapping around the small of her back and the other urgently taking hold of her cheek. He buried his fingers in her hair, turning her head until he could crash their lips together in the middle of her sentence. She moaned quietly, but fervently into the kiss, her hands grabbing wherever they could find purchase (which ended up being the front of his t-shirt overlying his ribcage, and on the bicep of the arm maintaining the direction of her head). Kanji pulled her as tightly against him as he could manage; the small size of the booth made this somewhat necessary anyway. He kissed her so fiercely he saw stars, and a small whine escaped him when she managed to pull away, gasping for air.

“Does… does this mean I win?” she quipped once she’d gotten a bit of her breath back. Kanji laughed, kissing her forehead before resting his own against the same spot.

“When did it become some power play anyway?” he countered, pressing a kiss to her temple, then to her cheek, then jawline, and Naoto tilted her head further to the side to allow him access to her throat. “All I know is you started it.”

“Did I?” she purred, humming in pleasure as Kanji’s lips brushed along the pulse point in her neck. “I can’t seem to recall doing so.”

He growled playfully and nuzzled the crook of her neck with his nose before trailing his lips up its length until he reached her lips again. “Yeah, right.” He continued his assault on her senses, slipping his hands under her shirt and up her sides until they came to rest at the base of her ribcage; he didn’t dare go any higher while they were still in the arcade.

“Kanji, as much as I’d love to continue this for the remainder of our time here,” Naoto gasped, her breath hitching as he took her earlobe lightly between his teeth, “the others are going to wonder where we’ve disappeared to. And it’s entirely possible someone will come to use this booth before too long.”

Kanji sighed heavily and released her ear, brushing his lips against it before kissing her deeply on the mouth once more. “I know, I know,” he whispered, his voice husky with desire. He kissed the tip of her nose and the top of her head before relenting fully. “I was gonna explode if I didn’t get you to myself for a minute, though.”

“You aren’t the only one,” she smirked, lifting up on her toes to place one last kiss to his lips before straightening her shirt and exiting the booth before him. Kanji took a deep, steadying breath and checked his reflection in the selection screen before following suit, only to smack into her just outside. There, waving a handful of photo strips casually in the air, was Yu, sporting a serene expression as he leaned against a structural support pillar across from them. 

“S-senpai! Eh heh, uh… w-where’s Rise an’ the others?” Kanji faltered, trying to ignore his lightheadedness. 

“W-were you thirsty as well, Senpai?” Naoto managed, sounding just as taken aback as Kanji was.

“Not as much as you two, by the looks of it,” Yu replied airily, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Neither Kanji nor Naoto could conjure up a suitable response, so remained silent in their discomfiture.

Yu laughed with his usual good-natured ease, pushing off the pillar and handing the photos to Kanji. “There are some really good ones in there,” he told them, pointing to one of the frames on the top of the stack - a shot of Naoto laughing with Kanji's face hidden behind her throat. “I think that one’s my favorite.” And with that, he turned and walked back in the direction all three had come from, leaving his two kōhai frozen in place. Naoto came to her senses first, taking the photos out of Kanji’s increasingly slack grasp before they fell, and looked through them with great interest.

“Oh, these _did_ turn out quite well,” she agreed belatedly, flipping slowly through each of the strips. Curiosity piqued, Kanji finally snapped out of his trance and looked over Naoto’s shoulder at the shots, half of which were of them in the middle of, uh, full engagement, and the other from _less frantic_ moments. She handed a couple of the strips back to him while she examined the others. “I had forgotten these types of machines have controls on the outside of the booth as well,” she mumbled, clearing her throat awkwardly as she came to a shot of Kanji kissing her full on with her shirt lifted enough to show her stomach. Kanji was still staring at the strips she had already handed him, eyes glazed over and face practically glowing.

“Uh… d-d’you know if the screen out here shows w-what’s going on inside?” he asked, afraid of the answer. 

“God, I hope not,” she replied, just as fearfully uncertain. “Still, I have to admit I’m glad we have these.” She handed the last of the photos to Kanji and he placed all of them in his wallet for safe-keeping and later review. “I can make copies of them back home so we both have one of each.”

“Oh, good. I was gonna see about doin' that.”

“Or, I could just keep them all for myself… spoils of war and all that,” she flouted playfully.

Kanji ruffled her hair with a huff, laughing as she scowled and swatted his hand away. “Not on your life, woman.”

~*~

Back in Inaba a few hours later, Kanji was crouched in the entryway of the Shirogane estate, carefully removing his shoes; Naoto had invited him over for dinner and to work on the summer homework. As much as he would have rather continued what they started in the photobooth, she was insistent upon being productive at least some of the time before she had to go back to Tokyo. So, while she went on to the house she shared with her grandfather and their staff, Kanji returned home to get his schoolbag, finish a few things for his mother before she closed up shop, and inform her of his plans for the evening. Mrs. Tatsumi had sent him off with a bright smile, her best to Naoto’s grandfather, and assurances that she would be just fine on her own tonight, thank you very much.

Kanji had been to the large home on several occasions, even by himself a few times, but he would be kidding himself if he ignored how different this visit felt. It was like he used to feel when he came over, before he had confessed to Naoto, but this time his anxiety wasn’t because of _her_. He got on well with the elder Shirogane during the few times they had interacted, but he had no idea how traditional the man was when it came to relationships. His mother was fairly so, but she never pushed any more antiquated behaviors on him beyond general advisement and basic manners.

“May I take your things, Tatsumi-san?” Yakushiji offered, holding his arm out at an angle as if offering it to him. It still threw Kanji for a loop to be treated with such respect, even if the older man had never referred to him any other way. He just felt it was more respect than someone like him should be shown by an elder, and he didn’t think he would ever get used to it.

“Uh… sure, thanks, Yakushiji-san.” Kanji handed his school bag to the older man and shrugged off the light hooded jacket he had thrown on due to the slight chill that had fallen with the darkness, hanging it on the elaborate coatrack next to where shoes were kept. Just then, Naoto came padding into the entryway, wearing only a pair of socks on her feet. Kanji also opted not to slip on one of the extra pairs of house shoes lined up on the shelf. He noted that Naoto had added a royal blue cardigan to her ensemble from earlier that day, which complimented her skin tone and eye color quite nicely.

“Ah, just in time,” she said sweetly, nodding to Yakushiji as he bowed deeply to her before taking his leave with Kanji’s bag. “They just told us dinner was ready to be served.”

“I didn’t make anybody wait, did I?” Kanji hoped as he followed her deeper into the house, looking anxiously from side to side.

“No, not at all. I just now came down from my room.” Naoto glanced back at him curiously as she led him towards the dining room. “Are you feeling all right, Kanji? You’re acting a bit strange.”

He stopped short, causing her to do the same so as not to leave him behind, and took up a sort of defensive stance. “M-me? Uh, yeah, I’m uh, I’m fine. Y…yeah.” She clearly wasn’t buying it - not that he'd sold it very well - so he relaxed his stance and ran a hand over the back of his neck morosely. “I just… hope yer old man don't hate me or nothin’.”

“Hate you? Why would he… ah.” Naoto ducked her head, wringing her hands together nervously. “On the contrary, h-he quite approves. I… may have already informed him of the recent developments between us.”

“W-what? What’d he say when ya did?”

“Two things,” she answered in a hushed voice, stepping closer to him as if what she had to say was for his ears only. “One, how surprised he was that I hadn’t figured out how you felt ages ago, because he had…” 

Kanji looked off to the side and chuckled sheepishly. "Man, _everybody_ knew, didn't they?" He brushed it off in front of her, but he inwardly chastised himself for being so obvious in front of her grandfather of all people, regardless of the fact that the old man was a seasoned investigator. 

“And two," Naoto continued, "that… th-that he wants you to train in defensive techniques with Yakushiji-san.”

Well… that wasn’t what he thought she was gonna say. “Huh? What for?”

She seemed far more bothered than he thought was called for, especially considering the fact that she already knew how well he could fight. “You see, besides being Grampa’s personal assistant, Yakushiji-san also acts as his… his bodyguard, while out on cases.”

“Oh. Cool.” Kanji was impressed. That mild-mannered old dude was a bodyguard? “So what’s the big deal? Why’re ya so worked up about that?”

She blushed deeper, her knuckles turning white in the fierceness of her grip. “B-because he merely _assumed_ you would be coming with me when I’m working! As if you were nothing more than… than an employee, or that you don’t have responsibilities of your own! I’m almost ashamed of how obtuse and archaic his line of thinking was, if I'm honest. I haven’t needed a bodyguard this entire time, but now that I’ve embraced my gender, I suddenly require one? Absolutely preposterous.”

Kanji blinked as she continued to vent her frustrations, simply listening and watching her fret as the information sank in. He needed to reassure her; that much was clear. He just hoped he didn’t say the wrong thing in the process, and very carefully considered his words as he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “Naoto, I don’t think that’s how he meant it at all,” he finally said, interrupting something about him taking over the textile shop. She looked positively unconvinced. “Yer overthinkin’ things, like ya always do when you’re nervous or scared a' somethin'.”

“I do no-“

“Remember your _lecture_ on ghost stories during the ski trip?”

“…Shut up.”

“Heh.” Kanji leaned down to press his lips against her fringe, hoping it would help calm her down. “Anyway, I bet he just figured I’d wanna be there to protect ya when you’re out catchin’ the bad guys. I know he's gotta worry about ya, since it’s kinda his job. And mine.”

“I can take care of myself,” Naoto muttered, crossing her arms tightly over her chest in indignation. Kanji just shook his head in amusement and, with a hand to the back of her neck, stepped forward to meet her halfway as he pulled her forehead against his chest and rested his chin on the top of her hair. 

“Course you can, we all know that. Don’t mean we ain’t gonna worry when you’re doin’ somethin’ dangerous.” He felt her arms move against his stomach as she dropped them to her sides. “And yeah, I got the shop and the dolls and shit to deal with, but that don’t mean I can’t come with ya sometimes if you take a really tough case.” Kanji absentmindedly ran his fingers through her hair as he spoke, warmth filling his chest as her hands came to rest on either side of his ribcage, grasping handfuls of his shirt. “Prob’ly wouldn’t be able to focus much on work or whatever when yer on cases like that anyway.”

She still seemed distressed, but far less than she had been. “I… suppose you’re right,” she conceded with a long, heavy sigh. “I will admit he is likely unaware of your experience in defense, having only seen evidence of your offensive techniques.”

“I'm not offensive,” Kanji protested, hoping he didn't look as put out as he felt. Naoto looked confused for a second before she chuckled, taking his hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

“No, I meant your skill in fighting,” she said. “Offense, not off-putting.”

“O…oh.” Kanji resolved right then and there to start reading more. Her expansive vocabulary left him feeling foolish more often than he liked, though he knew she didn’t think any less of him for it. “Sorry.”

Naoto just rose up on her toes and placed a chaste peck to the corner of his mouth, cheering him up instantly. “Come. If we delay any longer, Grampa might just come looking for us himself.”

~*~

Kanji slammed the cover of the book down in front of him, eyes squeezed shut as if in pain, and flopped back onto the plush rug in defeat. “ _Why_ did the summer homework have to have so much _English,_ ” he lamented to no one in particular, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyelids. 

Naoto smiled sympathetically. “Come now, Kanji, it’s not that bad. You’ve improved drastically just over the last hour.”

“That ain’t sayin’ much,” he mumbled, sitting up and leaning back on his hands as far from the English textbook in front of him as he could, eyeing it with disdain.

“English is widely accepted as the most difficult language to learn when not one’s native tongue,” she recited in an effort to encourage him. “We’ve already made it through nearly three chapters in just under an hour.” When he flopped back again with a loud groan, she laughed outright. “All right, all right. Perhaps this is a good place to take a break.” After a pleasant, relaxed dinner with her grandfather, Naoto had taken Kanji to the library, where her schoolwork was kept and his awaited. She had run through the list of subjects for him to choose to tackle first, and while he had been… disinclined to choose any of them, the option of English gave him pause and she seized the opportunity while it was still viable. She could tell he felt uncomfortable doing so, but he was paying far closer attention to the material as she guided him through the assignments than she had ever seen him do before. She vaguely wondered where his motivation came from, but she could sate her curiosity later if the subject came up in conversation. Naoto tucked her pen into her copy of the textbook and closed it, setting it off to the side and stacking Kanji’s on top of hers. “Would you like some tea? I can ask Yakushiji-san to bring us some if you want.”

“Right now I just want you,” he pouted, propping up on one elbow and holding a hand out to her. She leaned over and took it, giving it a gentle squeeze before intending to let go – but Kanji apparently had other plans and pulled on her arm as he laid back on the rug until she was laying half on top of him.

“Kanji-!”

“Nap time, Naoto,” he yawned, wrapping his arms tightly around her and snuggling his nose against her hair. She giggled, but still made an effort to extract herself from his grasp (it was, admittedly, a halfhearted attempt).

“If we fall asleep, we’ll stay that way and you know it,” she admonished. Really, she wouldn’t have minded much, but her grandfather and Kanji’s mother probably would have, and her body definitely would protest a long period of time asleep on anything but a bed or couch. She knew from experience, after all; she’d lost count of how many times she’d fallen asleep on top of a stack of files at police stations or her own desk.

“So?”

“ _So,_ get up, and I’ll get us some tea,” she insisted, willing her voice to sound firm despite her body aching to lay there with him. Kanji finally acquiesced with an adorable huff, and she didn't resist the urge to stretch towards him on her hands and knees until she was close enough to kiss him. “I can get us something to eat as well if you’d like,” she added, pushing herself to her knees before standing.

“Oh man, no way. I’m still full from dinner,” he winced, sitting up and resting a hand over his stomach. “’S prob’ly why I’m so tired allova sudden.”

“Yes, well... sometimes the chef can go a bit overboard.” Naoto grazed her fingers through his hair as she passed behind him, smiling as he leaned back against her leg in contentment. “I’ll be back in a moment.” She slipped out of the library, trying to hide her giddiness behind one hand, and made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen. No need to bother Yakushiji-san with something she could so easily get herself. She glanced idly into open rooms as she passed them, stopping short when she saw her grandfather sitting in the drawing room with a book. “Grampa?” she said, alerting him to her presence to avoid startling him. He looked up from his book with a smile and removed his reading glasses to regard her properly.

“How goes the studying, my dear?” he asked kindly, patting the arm of his oversized chair in invitation.

“Quite well, actually,” she told him as she perched halfway on the upholstery. “Kanji-kun seems to be applying himself more than ever where English is concerned.”

Grandpa Shirogane nodded once, appearing pleased by her report. “He’s thinking of the future, then. That's good.”

“I believe he does so frequently since befriending those in our group, especially Yu-senpai,” she noted, “but why would his focus on English in particular prompt your assessment?”

“His family owns a textile business, that he will, presumably, inherit and operate once he comes of a certain age,” her grandfather posited, his tone similar to that which he adopted when profiling a suspect. “You also mentioned he makes quite intricate toys and dolls from scratch, which are already selling rather well in the storefront. If he were to make use of the Internet…”

“Ah,” Naoto raised her brows in realization. “I see where this is going. You think he’s focusing on English as part of a business strategy. An interesting deduction, Grampa. I’ll be sure to focus extra effort on the subject in our study sessions.”

“See that you do,” the elder detective approved. “While I might want him to train in methods of defense, I am certain his priorities will remain with the shop he grew up in… even with as much as he so obviously loves you,” he added with a wink, his eyes twinkling as Naoto’s composure faltered.

“Grampa!” she cried, scandalized, shooting up from the arm of his chair. “That’s… w-we… it’s far too soon to discuss such complex emotions. Honestly!” She felt her heart race in a panic until her grandfather took one of her hands and held it between his own, chuckling softly.

“My dear, love isn’t so complex a thing. Not for everyone.” His smile was sage, and she could sense a forlorn sadness behind his eyes. It was almost too much to witness. “Sometimes, it’s the simplest thing of all. Kanji-kun is a simple man-"

"He is _not_ unintelligent, Grampa," Naoto snapped, instantly regretting her spot of anger. Her grandfather didn't seem phased by it, however.

"Not simple of mind, my girl - simple in that he does not complicate his life. He cares freely, with abandon, for those he holds dear. I can tell he tries to hide just how deeply he cares for _you_ , perhaps because he's afraid it's premature... but you should see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching. He does love you, Naoto-chan, and you should not let this scare you. He is not the type of man to rush you into any emotion with which you are not comfortable, but he is also the type of man who will experience great pain if you attempt to dissuade him from feeling that way. As you discover your own love growing for him - don't argue, young lady, I can see it in the way you look at him as well - take great care with the heart he's entrusted to you. I'm sure yours is his greatest treasure.” Naoto couldn’t think of a proper response, so she simply nodded, unable to meet his lonely gaze any longer. And just like that, the echoes of Grandpa Shirogane’s past disappeared from the greyish-blue depths and he was all joviality again, as per usual. “Excellent. Now, shouldn’t you be along? Your young man must be wondering where you are by now.”

“Y-yes, of course,” she stammered, giving a stiff bow before turning to flee from the room, pursing her lips as her grandfather’s gentle laughter echoed in her wake. Naoto sifted through the various blends of tea she knew they had on hand to get her mind off of things she wasn't quite ready to contemplate as she rushed to the kitchen and nearly smacked right into Yakushiji-san in her distraction, who stood just inside the doorway to the galley with two steaming cups in hand he had somehow managed not to spill when she almost collided with him. 

“Ah, Naoto-sama, excellent timing. I thought you and your guest might like something to lift your spirits as you continue your studies,” he explained with a dutiful tilt of his head. “There isn't much in the way of caffeine, but the flavor contains a bit of spice that should act as a suitable pick-me-up for the hour.”

“That sounds like just the thing we need, thank you,” Naoto responded gracefully as she accepted the cups from him. “I can take them up myself. You’ve already done more than I could ask, so please allow me to save you the trouble.” 

Yakushiji bowed respectfully, the edges of his mustache lifting just noticeably. “Very good, Naoto-sama,” he said, and then turned to take his leave. Naoto watched his back for a moment before turning carefully to head back to the library. When she got there, she found Kanji sitting cross-legged on the floor sketching in his Moleskine – which he quickly closed upon her return.

“O-oh hey! H-hey, Naoto, that, uh… took a while,” he stuttered, shoving the book deep in his schoolbag and bringing his English textbook back to the forefront. She quirked a brow at his behavior, but decided not to grill him on the matter.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I was waylaid momentarily in the drawing room with Grampa.” She handed one of the mugs of tea to him and sat carefully beside him, watching as he inhaled the steam wafting from its contents.

“Smells kinda spicy,” he commented.

“Yakushiji-san said as much when he gave these to me,” Naoto affirmed. “He said it would give us a bit of a boost in energy without the risk of keeping us awake too late.”

Kanji sipped at the tea and swished it around in his mouth for a moment, making a show of his appreciation as he swallowed. “’S’good, I’ve never had this kind before,” he said.

“I’ll be sure to find out exactly which blend this is for you,” she offered, taking a sip of her own. It _was_ rather good, and the spice in the aftertaste seemed to settle behind her eyes for a moment before fading. This would do nicely.

“So what’d your grandpa talk to you about?” Kanji asked, more like he was making conversation than actively prying.

“He asked how our studies were going.” Her companion nodded in acknowledgement, taking another drink of his tea. Naoto set her cup down in her lap, fidgeting with it as the conversation replayed in her mind. "I mentioned how focused you were on English, and he seemed to think that meant you were planning to expand your family’s business on a global front.”

“Well, yeah,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I dunno how long we’ll survive if we don’t.”

“It just hadn’t occurred to me is all,” she admitted, staring into her teacup. "Marketing and running a business is a bit outside my realm of expertise."

“Ain’t a big deal,” he shrugged. “Not like I’ve talked about it much, ya know?”

“No, I know.” She took another sip of her tea. “If you want, we can spend more time on English in general until you feel more comfortable with it. I’m more or less fluent; Grampa insisted on it so I could help with his cases abroad.”

“That would be a huge help,” he accepted with delight.

She continued fidgeting with her cup, carefully so as not to spill it, as she pressed on. “Something he used to do to help me was to read aloud from detective novels when I was younger. I… could do that with you as well, if you’d like. He called it ‘learning by osmosis’… which, of course, makes no sense, as ‘immersion’ would be the more appropriate term-“

“Naoto, you could read the phone book to me and I’d be happy.”

She laughed self-consciously, palming her cheek as it buzzed with warmth. “Very well.” Naoto stood and set her cup on a side table next to her favorite chair. She examined the titles lining the shelves along the edges of the room, considering her favorites before choosing one and taking it from its place, running her fingers along the flowery blue script at the top. “We'll start with this one.” She held it out for Kanji to examine, swallowing a laugh as he squinted at the inkblot illustration on the cover.

“That supposed to be some kinda butterfly or somethin’?” he asked, poking at a cluster of periwinkle flowers lining the bottom edge of the dark splatter.

“Inkblots are typically left to the blind interpretation of the viewer,” she explained, allowing him to take the book from her so she could reclaim her teacup and settle back down on the floor next to him. “They aren’t really used anymore, but inkblot tests were once a widely used method of psychological evaluation.”

“Sounds like a steamin' pile a' bullshit to me,” Kanji said earnestly, a brow raised in judgment as he continued to stare at the blot, holding the book at arm’s length as if it would change his perspective.

“I _did_ say it isn’t used much anymore,” Naoto grinned, placing her cup on top of Kanji’s English textbook and taking the novel back from him. “Are you able to read this title? I know it may be a bit more difficult than usual because of the font this publisher used.”

Kanji leaned over her and peered at the book’s cover again, having really only looked at the picture the first time, and took a stab at it. “Fl…oh- no, -ow…wers… f-for… Al…gu-“

“In this case, that is actually read as a soft G,” she corrected.

“Oh, okay. Al-jurr…noh-“

“Short vowel sound on the _O_ as well.”

“Damn. …Nahn?”

Naoto beamed at him in satisfaction. “Well done, Kanji! _Flowers for Algernon_.”

“Why does that sound so familiar…” Kanji wondered aloud, furrowing his brow in thought. He straightened with a snap of his fingers a moment later. “Oh! That’s what you called that one gun we found in your lab thingy in the TV world, right?”

She had almost forgotten that, especially given the fact that the Team had only stumbled across the powerful weapon while preparing to search for Nanako. “That’s right,” she confirmed after a moment, impressed and oddly touched that he had committed such an insignificant thing to memory.

“Y'know, I never really got why you called it that,” he confessed, finishing off what remained of his tea.

“Well, now you will, once we've finished this.” She opened the book to the beginning of the first chapter after flipping past the copyright statement, title page, dedication, and table of contents. “Shall we begin?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, come on, did we REALLY think we were gonna get through this entire story without some kind of shoutout to atelierMUSE? :3 I first saw Flowers for Algernon mentioned in _Resolve_ (of the phenomenal _Trust_ saga, which you should immediately read if you haven't yet WHY HAVEN'T YOU READ IT YET???), and looked up the book out of curiosity. It is **absolutely** what Atlus was referencing with the name of the gun you find after defeating the high-level shadow in Naoto's palace (ayyy P5 terminology, yas), and I've got more details as to why scattered through the next chapter. The book itself is a pretty obscure reference - mid-century literature not taught in schools from what I know - so I'm super impressed they found it. ~~Or maybe I'm just an uncultured heathen I dunno~~ Plus the scene where it's referenced in _Resolve_ is fuckin ADORABLE, don't @ me
> 
> Oh also, Kanji's hairstyle at the beginning is meant to look similar to the one he uses by halfway through _Resolve _and thereafter, because it suits him SO well and just, **unf**__
> 
> ____
> 
> Anyway, the link to their page and you're welcome if this is new to you: http://ateliermuseproductions.com/our-comics.php
> 
> Another note: The canon Persona 4 timeline is seen here - http://i.imgur.com/TXuM5y3.jpg - which puts the events of P4DAN at the end of the same month the Golden Epilogue occurs (Aug'12). That occurs during the summer vacation between the first and second term of Yu's third year of high school. Here's how that looks:
> 
> -March 2011 - Yu moves to Inaba, begins 2nd year of high school at Yasogami  
>  -March 2012 - Izanami's ass gets kicked, 2nd year of high school ends  
>  -1 Apr 2012 - Beginning of third term, Yu back in Tokyo (or whatever city he actually lives in, I never bothered to look it up and just use Tokyo for the sake of simplicity)  
>  -Golden Week 2012 (end of April through beginning of May) - Yu comes back to visit Inaba, is gifted with events of both P4 Arena _and_ Ultimax, Yu still a third year  
>  -beg of Aug 2012 - Golden Epilogue, start of summer vacation between first and second terms of Yu's third year  
>  -end of Aug 2012 - events of P4DAN and start of second term of Yu's third year
> 
> I dunno about you guys, but that's a LOT of shit to go through in a very short period of time. I didn't want to do that to them, and certain story elements don't quite jive with the canon timeline when you start nitpicking at it. SO, I stretched the events out a bit for shits and giggles.
> 
> For my purposes, the "canon" timeline is as follows:
> 
> Mar'11-Mar'12 - events of P4/P4 Golden, Yu's second year (per canon)  
>  Golden Week'12 - events of P4A/Ultimax, Yu's third year; Rise and Naoto are both still in Inaba full-time but Rise travels to a nearby city for practice and Naoto goes back and forth between Tatsumi Port Island and Inaba to work her case with the Kirijo Group (per canon)  
>  Aug'12 - Golden Epilogue, Yu's third year summer vacation; Naoto, at least, still appears to be in Inaba almost full-time (kind of clashes with P4DAN canon, which implies/states Naoto is rarely in Inaba as of late... doesn't make sense if there are only two full weeks between the Golden Epilogue and P4DAN's Prologue)  
>  Aug'13 - P4DAN, post-secondary for Yu etc, third year for Kanji, Naoto, and Rise; Rise no longer attends Yasogami full-time in favor of devoting herself to her comeback and Naoto has spent a significant amount of time over the last several months away from Inaba, including the majority of the first term, due to casework.


	4. Day Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is much discussion.

“Purl… knit… knit… pu- _damnit,_ it came off the needle again.” Naoto gave her project a frustrated shake, centering herself with a sigh before she continued on.

“You’re doin’ real good for a first try though!” While Kanji thought Naoto was adorable when she was irritated (which he would never, _ever_ tell her, by the way), she was losing patience with herself quickly, and he wished there was some way he could make things a bit easier for her.

“It’s certainly not as easy as you make it seem,” she grumbled, scowling at the yarn in her hands, at a loss as to what to do next. Kanji reached over and pointed to a particular spot in her row to remind her where to start repairs.

“Eh heh, well… I been doin’ this forever, ya know? Could prob’ly cast off in my sleep. Almost did once, now that I think about it…”

For the last half hour, he had been walking Naoto through the basics of knitting, and she was doing remarkably well, but even Inaba's prized detective wasn’t immune to the common struggles for beginners – the biggest of which, for her, was dropping stitches. The two were sitting at the chabudai in Kanji’s room, where they had retired after lunch so he could finish up the second charm for Rise before she (they, he pointedly ignored) left for Tokyo. She had been reading Flowers for Algernon to him as he worked, and a break to rest her voice unexpectedly transitioned into her current task.

“I don’t even want to think about the prospect of casting off yet,” she grumbled, carefully mimicking the process Kanji had showed her earlier for picking up stitches until the row was back as it should be. He swelled with pride as he watched her; while knitting was not the most complex task, doing it _well_ wasn’t easy, and she was tackling it with aplomb despite her frustration. Before building up the fine motor strength in his hands and fingers to manage the necessary precision and weather the controlled, repetitive motions, he had to soak his hands in hot water to ease the pain in the heels of his hands after an hour of knitting or crocheting. He suspected, judging by her furrowed brow and crinkled nose, that she was feeling similar discomfort.

“Ya don’t have to finish that whole row if ya don’t want to,” he gently insisted, watching the way her fingers maneuvered the yarn with great interest. “Hands are prob’ly hurtin’ by now, right?”

“…That’s a normal consequence of doing this?” She glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye, needles steady in her grasp.

“Course it is. Even my hands start to ache like hell after a while... don't matter how many years I've been doin' this,” he told her, nudging into her shoulder to try and cheer her up. “It’s a pretty specific set of muscles you’re usin’ when you knit, and they don’t get a lotta use otherwise.”

"Even with our constant use of chopsticks?" she argued.

"Even with that."

Naoto dropped her hands into her lap along with her needles, hanging her head in defeat. “I suppose I’ve had enough of this for now,” she begrudgingly conceded, surrendering her work to Kanji when he reached to take it. “I _would_ like to continue learning, though, if that’s all right. I don’t really have many hobbies.”

“Sure ya do,” Kanji contended as he fashioned a temporary cast-off to secure her progress. “Ya love readin’, all that detective stuff ain’t just a _job_ for you, tinkerin’ around with robots an’ other mechanical shit I can’t wrap my head around is as fun for you as sewin’ is for me…” He listed off interest after interest as easily as he would his own. “Ya play piano, like goin’ to the hot springs 'long as you’re by yourself, and you’re a _really_ good dancer.”

The corner of Naoto's mouth quirked up at that, the first sign she was enjoying herself since beginning her impromptu knitting lesson. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point,” she muttered, flushed with embarrassment but pleased nonetheless. "I want to learn more about the things you enjoy doing, so I'm looking forward to your lessons." Kanji swelled again and looked behind him into the hallway before leaning over to kiss her forehead. Once Naoto’s practice project had been put away, he returned once more to Rise’s gift, quickly looping off the last of the stitches and masking the end of the yarn. Meanwhile, Naoto had reclaimed the novel and opened it to where she had left off. "Now then, Kanji, let's review the story thus far. Could you please summarize the major events to where we are at present?" she requested, still blushing after the kiss he'd surprised her with.

“Right, I got this. So okay… the mouse is Algernon, yeah?” He tapped his chin with the end of one of his needles in an effort to concentrate.

“Correct,” she said, placing the book down on the table in order to massage her hands. Kanji made a mental note to show her some of his favorite techniques later.

“And the main dude, Charlie, is even dumber’n me-“

“Kanji-kun, _stop_ that. You never give yourself enough credit and you know it.” Kanji shrank under her admonishment; Naoto had made no secret of the fact she strongly disliked when he spoke so poorly of his level of intelligence, and she'd chastised him several times for it even before they became intimately involved. He'd even heard her go after other people who made disparaging remarks about his IQ, joking or not (a fact that never failed to make his entire day). His self-deprecation was a bad habit, to be sure, and she’d made it her personal mission to break him of it. “Additionally, a rare birth defect is at fault for Charlie’s mental faculties, or lack thereof.”

“I’m not even gonna _try_ to say that word,” he scoffed.

“I don’t blame you. _Phenylketonuria_ is a difficult term... I had a fair bit of trouble as well at first. However, medical professionals abbreviate it as PKU, so feel free to use that instead.”

“Oh good, that's way easier.” The strap was near completion now, and he smoothed a few awkward-looking stitches with his thumbnail and a sewing needle before using thread to gather the waistline of the doll's dress. “So Charlie works for these assholes who make that cute little mouse into some fu- uh, messed up science project, an’ he gets all super smart, so dude figures he’ll get the same shit done ta him so he can be a genius too, and there's a teacher he's sweet on who's involved in the whole thing somehow.” He furrowed his brow in thought for a moment before he continued. "And... uh, yeah, that's all I got."

“Charlie doesn't exactly work _with_ the scientists, but that aside, you've quite aptly summed up the story to this point.” Naoto nodded proudly, her eyes bright as they met his. “Very well done, Kanji!”

His cheeks burned with her praise, but something was nagging at him about the story's setup and the heat disappeared rather quickly. “Y'know... I kinda get the feeling this is gonna turn out to be some depressing shit.” He did not miss the slight wince that flashed in her expression before she retrained her features. "Naoto..."

“Well…”

"Please tell me the mouse doesn't die, at least," he pleaded. Her only response was to silently, and pointedly, avoid his gaze, and he sighed heavily.

“You owe me a Topsicle if I cry.” She laughed through her nose and placed a hand on his arm - an apology of sorts.

“Fair enough.” A persistent buzzing interrupted them and Naoto reached for her phone as it danced across the tabletop. “Rise,” she said after opening and skimming the message. Kanji tied off the thread and turned the charm over in his hand before putting it back on the table with a satisfied nod. “There are several emojis, as usual,” she elaborated with an air of disapproval, and held her phone at arm’s length so he could read it. He could only shake his head in amusement as he did so:

_naotokun im B O r E dddDD (._.) ( l: ) ( .-. ) ( :l ) (._.) u shld come & visit me over herrrrreeeee bring kanji w u! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧_

“Just wait until she gets one’a those super fancy phones,” he chortled. “I bet she’ll try and have entire conversations with that shit.”

“A smartphone?” Naoto clarified, tapping her chin with her forefinger. “They seem rather frivolous for the expense if one already has a computer and a normal cell phone.”

“Which is exactly why I’m surprised she don’t have one yet," he pointed out. "I don’t think she messes with computers if she can help it. She was playin' around with Yosuke-senpai's phone th' other day an' went on and on about how she _needed_ one." Kanji gave his best Risette impression, but ended up sounding more like his Shadow than he would've liked. Naoto, thankfully, only snorted with laughter.

"You raise a fair point. I'm a bit perplexed as to why the agency has neglected to provide one for her, especially as it easily qualifies as a business expense. For example, one of the agents at the police station in Shibuya had one covered as such since he only uses it to check the news and his work email.” Naoto closed the message and placed her phone in her pocket rather than on the table to keep it from rattling so loudly when Rise inevitably texted again to ask why she hadn't responded yet.

“Should we go see ‘er then?” Kanji asked, placing the two completed charms in front of her. “I can hand these over, an’ it’d be cool if you were there when I do.”

She glanced between the book and the charms before she answered him. “Hmm... it would be prudent to spend a bit more time reading, but we could always resume later today. It is up to you, at any rate.”

Kanji hadn't expected Naoto to defer to him, especially since she was usually the one to make the call when it came to their itinerary, and he found himself unable - possibly unwilling - to decide. “I wanna do whatever you wanna do, Naoto. As long as we’re together, we could be doin’ nothin’ but hardcore math shit an’ I’d be happy.”

“I’m fairly sure that would warrant _some_ complaint,” she grinned, her eyes sparkling. “Not even _I_ enjoy doing complicated calculations at length.” After a few more moments of hesitation, Naoto closed the book and ran her hand over its cover before setting it aside. “It would be more ideal to visit with Rise,” she reasoned. “It’s unknown when she’ll be in Inaba for more than a day or two again, so we should spend as much time with her as possible.”

“That’s pretty much what I was thinkin’ too,” Kanji agreed, pushing himself up before offering his hand to Naoto. She took it readily and he pulled her to her feet, using a little too much force, causing her to crash against him. He took the opportunity to wrap his arms around her and plant a kiss on her forehead and she shoved him away with a laugh. 

“I strongly suspect you did that on purpose," she accused playfully. "What if you hadn’t caught me?”

“I’ll always catch you,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders, and he took note of the light blush coloring Naoto's cheeks before she hid her face against his chest. "Wha'ssa matter?"

"Sometimes I find your earnestness a bit... daunting," she admitted bashfully, "as I lack the ability to match you stride for stride where emotions are concerned. I don’t think you even intend to be so infuriatingly charming." Her voice was slightly muffled against him and he gave her small frame a gentle squeeze.

“I’m just tellin’ you what’s what,” Kanji stated as a matter-of-fact. “I take care of my own, same as you.” Naoto leaned back and observed him for a moment before reaching up, taking his face between her palms, and pulling him down to kiss him. He could feel something inherently different in the contact, but finding the word for it proved impossible. “Wha... what was that for?” he murmured once she had withdrawn. He flushed under the weight of her gaze, leaning into her touch as she combed his hair away from his brow with her fingertips. 

“Never change, Kanji,” she whispered fervently, lifting on tiptoe to kiss him again before withdrawing completely. Kanji forgot to move, grinning stupidly as he watched her grab the small bag she’d taken to carrying (“It is _not_ a purse,” she had insisted after Yosuke pointed out the addition). “Now then, shall we get going?”

“Y-yeah, let’s go.” He snapped to attention and started out of his room.

“Kanji?” she prompted from behind him, and he spun around to face her with the hope she wasn't quite finished showering him with affection.

“Y-yeah?” She giggled at his positively love-struck expression and he grinned even wider, but as she pointed downward, his enthusiasm gave way to confusion. Did she want him to kneel or sit or something? That seemed weird.

“The charms?” she said simply, the corner of her mouth turned up in amusement.

“...Oh!" With a short shake of his head, Kanji stepped back to the table and retrieved the items in question, shoving them into his back pocket for safe-keeping. "Sorry. I was kinda distracted.” Naoto smirked and held out her hand, which he readily accepted and stepped close.

“I can't imagine why,” she teased, glancing up at him through her lashes with a surprisingly seductive edge.

"Well, _some_ body's pleased with herself," he chuckled, ruffling her hair with his free hand.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean," she responded airily, releasing his hand and ghosting hers across his chest as she passed in front of him on her way out of the room. Kanji shivered despite the heat coursing through his body, and he allowed himself a moment of giddiness before following her into the hall.

~*~

“AHHHH, my _saviors!_ ” Rise cried dramatically as the young couple entered her grandmother's shop. “Things have been so _slow_ today. I even worked on some homework before you guys showed up - **voluntarily**.”

“Is your grandmother out?” Naoto asked, slipping her bag off her shoulder and letting it hang from the crook of her arm. Kanji hovered behind her shoulder, his hand resting just above the small of her back.

“Yeah, just for a little bit though. She went to take some food to old man Daidara and reminisce or whatever." She waved them closer to the counter and spread her arms wide above it. "You guys want anything?”

“Got any more agedashi dofu?” Kanji asked hopefully. Rise scanned the trays in the display case and held up her thumb in affirmation.

“Yup!”

“One a’ those for me then,” he said, reaching for his wallet and pulling out exact change as Rise turned her attention to the girl at his side. 

“What about you, Naoto-kun, you want anythi- Kanji!" He froze with his fist, payment in hand, over the counter and looked over at the disgruntled girl behind it, eyebrow raised defensively. "Put that money away this instant, I’m _not_ charging you for one piece of fried tofu.” Kanji slammed the money on the counter and held his hand over it to fend off Rise's attempts to push it back at him.

“Hell no, you didn’t charge me last time either!” he shouted, swatting at Rise's hand as she smacked the back of his hand protecting the four bright silver coins underneath.

“Hmm, really? I'm pretty sure that’s not true~” Rise crossed her arms stubbornly and stared him down hard until he finally relented with a frustrated growl and stuffed the money back in his pocket.

"Goddamn idols," he muttered under his breath. Rise didn't hear him as she squealed victoriously, but Naoto did and hid her smile behind her hand.

“Mitarashi dango for me, if you have it,” she requested once their friend had stopped bouncing. As Rise ducked behind the display case to find the dessert, Naoto grabbed Kanji's hand and squeezed it as she leaned in as close to his ear as she could. “Just 'pay' her with the straps, Kanji,” she whispered, straightening before their friend reappeared. 

“Okay, I’ve got both right here! That’ll be… oh, an hour of your time, at the very least,” Rise trilled happily as she held both items out at arm’s length. 

“A fair exchange, wouldn’t you agree, Kanji-kun?” Naoto looked up to him expectantly, encouraging agreement with a slight incline of her head.

“Uh… oh, yeah! Yeah, sure, that sounds great.” Kanji shifted uncomfortably as Rise narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him; If he didn't blow this whole surprise with his horrible acting, it would be a miracle.

“You’re so weird sometimes, Kanji. I thought you'd be over the whole nervousness thing around Naoto-kun by now,” Rise commented, ignoring his scowl, and motioned for them to follow her into the prep area. There was a bench along the wall leading to the walk-in, and Naoto sat down whereas Kanji opted to lean against the wall opposite. “D’you want me to hang your purse somewhere, Naoto-kun?” the idol offered. "It's super cute!"

“Once again, Rise-san, it is _not_ a _purse_ ,” Naoto intoned, allowing Rise to take the item in question. “Women’s clothing is severely lacking in functional pockets, to which I have adapted by carrying a bag when necessary.”

“Whatever you say, Naoto-kun. It’s a cute _bag,_ then,” Rise teased, dangling it directly in front of Naoto's face from her fingertip, and Naoto released a long-suffering sigh. Kanji, for his part, kept his mouth shut, simply shaking his head in amusement. “So what have you two been up to today?” the bubbly girl inquired with interest, looping the bag's strap over a hook not far from the prep table next to them.

“Naoto started learnin’ how to knit,” Kanji proudly reported, taking a bite of the fried tofu square and wincing as it hit his tongue. It was far spicier than usual… Rise must’ve been tinkering around with the recipes again. Her grandma was gonna be _pissed..._

“Seriously?? Wow, Naoto-kun, I didn’t think you were the type,” Rise said, her brows raised in surprise as she took a seat on the bench next to her detective friend.

“I was taking a break from reading and thought I’d try my hand at it,” Naoto explained. “I was... not as successful as I would have liked.”

“Tch, she’s bein’ modest,” Kanji insisted after swallowing his food. “She did great for a first try.”

“Well, you gotta remember, this _is_ Naoto-kun we’re talking about here,” Rise pointed out. “If she doesn’t get something perfect right away, she’s not gonna be happy.”

“Th-that’s not tr-“

“Let's recall your first try at skiing, shall we?” the idol interrupted with a sly grin. 

“ _Why_ does everyone feel the need to bring that up?” Naoto grumbled before biting one of the dango off its skewer. Rise giggled and shrugged off her bench partner's annoyance.

“What book are you reading, anyways?” she asked, absentmindedly playing with the edges of her apron.

“It’s called Flowers for Algernon,” Kanji told her before (cautiously) taking another bite of the spicy tofu.

"You're reading it too, Moronji?" Rise seemed genuinely shocked. "It doesn't sound like a Japanese book by the title."

"Stop callin' me that!" he growled, mouth still full of food. He swallowed it half-chewed before continuing. "And... no, Naoto's readin' it _to_ me to help me get better at English. What'd your old man call it again?"

"Osmosis," Naoto recited, "but immersion is more accurate."

“Did you get the name for your gun from that book, Naoto-kun?” the idol inquired. "I always wondered where you came up with it."

“I did indeed,” she affirmed. “There were several aspects of not only the area in which we found it, but my own experiences there which brought the story to mind. As such, it seemed the logical reference for a moniker.”

“Why name a gun at all?” Rise wondered.

“Why not?” Kanji challenged. Rise just stared blankly at him for a minute.

“Hm… well, it's a nice name, anyway,” she finally conceded. Just then, footsteps and two unfamiliar voices echoed through the storefront and Rise hopped off the bench, smoothing her apron with a quick downward sweep of her hands. “You guys stay here and relax while I take care of this.” With that, she disappeared behind the wall partition, her cheery greeting bouncing around the small space. Kanji took the seat at Naoto's side, but before he could sit fully, Naoto stopped him.

“Wait, Kanji,” she said in a hushed voice. "Get the charms out before you sit on them." Kanji took both from his pocket and handed one over to Naoto, which she cradled carefully in her hands.

“Wouldn't have hurt 'em, but woulda been uncomfortable for _me_ ," he grinned, watching her finger as it traced each delicate line of stitching.

"Yes, I imagine so," she chuckled, her hand coming to rest atop her tiny woven charge once her finger had run out of paths to follow.

"D’you wanna give ‘em to her as soon as she comes back?” he asked as he dropped into a conspiratorial whisper, handing the other charm to her momentarily as he crumpled the napkin he'd used to eat with. "Here, hold this while I get rid of the trash."

“I’m not the one who made these, Kanji,” Naoto hissed, shifting slightly as he retrieved the napkin and dango skewer from the bench next to her thigh. “I have no preference as to when they're given to her. And thank you,” she added in a more normal tone.

"No, I mean - is there some kinda protocol or whatever for this kinda thing?" he clarified. He tossed the last bit of garbage into the can under the sink and returned to her side, at which point he was able to sit down without interruption and reclaimed the second charm he'd given her.

"Oh, I see. ...No, I don't believe there's any official etiquette when it comes to spontaneous gift-giving," she answered. They leaned in closer to each other to remain as quiet as possible. Voices carried quite a lot in the shop.

"But what d'you-"

“What’re you two whispering about back here?” Rise teased as she popped her head out from behind the partition.

“Nothing!” they blurted in stereo, clutching the charms tightly out of sight. Rise smirked mischievously, eyeing her friends with suspicion.

"Uh-huh. You were just back here with your faces no more than two centimeters apart, doing _nothing_."

"Can it, Rise, don't you have customers to see to?!" Kanji grumbled, quietly so as not to alarm the shop's patrons. Rise pursed her lips in an unconvinced smirk, eyeing them a moment more before shrugging helplessly.

“Ooookay, if you say so,” she sang, and then turned back to the storefront to finish the current transaction, the two left behind sighing in relief.

“That was close…” Naoto breathed.

“So... I should just give 'em to her when she's done up there, yeah?” Kanji asked again, rubbing the back of his neck with uncertainty. "I just wanna make sure I don't screw somethin' up."

“Kanji…” She paused, eyes tracing the intricate charm in her hands as her finger had earlier, and shook her head before smiling brightly up at him. “Believe in yourself as I do. There's nothing to mess up. She's going to love your gifts.”

" _Our_ gifts," Kanji corrected, touched by her faith in him. He stood from the bench to stretch before Rise returned, a number of cracks resonating through the compact hallway. Naoto shifted until she was leaning against the side of his thigh and he reached down, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair, utterly taken with her consequent hum of appreciation.

“Whew!” Rise came back from the front of the shop to rejoin them a few minutes later, wiping the back of her wrist across her brow before pushing up her sleeves and turning both knobs above the prep sink. She waited a few seconds, then plunged her hands under the forceful stream to clean them. “Sorry that took so long, those guys wanted to chat me up once they realized who I was.”

“Does that still happen often, Rise-san? After all this time?” Naoto probed, watching the idol scrub her nails against her palms to work up a nice lather. Given that Naoto still had her _own_ group of admirers following her around at school, Kanji found her astonishment by this a bit surprising. He had to admit that Naoto's fans, at least, had backed off considerably by the end of the last school year, though. He may or may not have had a little something to do with that.

“Yeah, every so often,” Rise replied nonchalantly, drying her hands and inspecting her nails to ensure no food bits remained underneath. “Inoue-san keeps trying to talk me out of helping out here while I'm in the midst of my comeback, but I smacked that down pretty quick. In fact, Grandma and I came up with a brilliant idea for the shop.”

“If it's brilliant, you sure you really had a part in coming up with it?” Kanji teased. Naoto elbowed him and he coughed before muttering a quick apology under his breath.

"Please ignore Kanji's provocation and tell us of your plan, Rise-san," Naoto encouraged, still eyeing the young man at her side with reproach. His 'wounded puppy' look made her feel only marginally guilty. 

She pointed towards the ceiling with a wink before detailing the plan. “She leaves the store for an hour or two, enough time for a few customers to see me and spread word that Risette is working the tofu shop. Then she comes back right before the big rush of customers and we work the crowd together until we've had enough. Then I disappear into the back or upstairs or something, and once I'm gone long enough, word gets around that I’m not here anymore and it goes back to being as slow as usual. When all is said and done, the store makes more in that short rush than the usual amount for an entire day when I’m not around.” She pressed her fists into her hips proudly as she stood before them in her apron and kerchief, as if she was on a stage before a stadium audience instead of her two close friends and classmates in the back of her grandmother's store.

“That’s… surprisingly shrewd, Rise-san,” Naoto complimented. “A creative, highly effective business strategy.” Kanji had to agree – that really _was_ something, especially from Rise. The bubbly girl giggled, blushing just slightly at Naoto’s praise.

“The agency has taught me a lot about capitalizing on my popularity. Only made sense to apply some of that here!” she said.

“I’m impressed, Rise,” Kanji complimented. “Ya think y’could make an appearance at the shop to help Ma sometime?”

“Oh, don’t worry, Kanji. I have _plans_ for you guys,” she grinned. “Inoue-san should be delivering them to your mom soon, but I drew up some costume commissions I want you two to fill. I’m guessing she’ll show them to you as soon as she gets them, since it’s kind of a rush order.”

“You… ya want _us_ to make _your_ costumes!?” He could only gape at her. This was... potentially _huge_ for their business.

“Of course I do, silly Moronji! Five outfits, all custom-made by my favorite experts at Tatsumi Textiles. You better believe I’m gonna tell everybody exactly that, too.” She gave him a wink and held her finger next to her nose. “You might want to hire a receptionist for when your phone starts ringing off the hook.”

Kanji was positively dumbfounded, but turned his gaze to Naoto when she laid a hand just above his knee with a broad, proud smile. “Now would be an excellent opportunity, Kanji-kun.”

“For wha… oh!”

“Yeah, for what?” Rise asked, her head cocked to the side as she regarded them. “Y'know, you two have been acting _weird_ today. Well… weirder than usual.” Ignoring her frown and statement, the two held their hands in front of them, each cupped around their respectively held charm. Naoto rose from the bench as she did so to stand at Kanji's side, nudging against him just as he began to speak.

“So, uh… after the festival, and with... well, _everything_ that happened afterwards, me a-an’ Naoto thought we should thank you or somethin',” he stumbled, his embarrassment getting the better of him.

“Correction – Kanji-kun had the idea, and did all the work,” Naoto interjected. “I merely provided moral support and concurrent English lessons.”

“Ya did a lot more 'an that, Naoto,” Kanji said affectionately, then turned his attention back to Rise, who still looked perplexed. “Anyways, these are from us, to thank you, and to celebrate your comeback, or whatever.” With that, both opened their hands to reveal the gifts, holding them out for Rise to inspect. She clasped her hands together in delight before accepting them, lifting both objects by the delicate loops from which they were meant to hang. One was a slender doll knitted entirely of pitch black yarn wearing a long white dress made out of a scrap of chiffon with an organza overlay, with a flat curve embroidered with gold metallic thread arching between both of its hands – as perfect a doppelganger of Rise’s persona as one could render in fabric form. The other charm was a small, round, relatively flat pillow, but had a tiny, cartoonish version of her face in the center, its only defining feature her signature pigtails; on either side of her face was Kanji’s in the same style, designated by hair of yellow thread and an embroidered scar, and Naoto’s, as indicated by the blue cap the young detective was rarely seen without. Both charms were extremely elaborate for so simple a message.

“Oh, Kanji… these are just perfect,” Rise sniffed quietly, letting the charms twirl slowly in the air as she gazed upon them.

“I figured somethin’ a little more personalized than what I usually make would be better for ya,” he needlessly explained, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. Even after all this time, he still hadn’t quite been able to kick the habit of being self-conscious whenever he talked about his creative ventures, even if it was with two people he was closest to. “The circle one is like a friendship charm, right, since it’s got the three of us on it. And Himiko seemed like the perfect choice for a good luck charm to have during your tour.” He smiled proudly despite his embarrassment; for what little time he’d had to finish the charms, he had done some of his best work yet.

Rise suddenly threw her arms around Kanji’s ribcage, snuggling into his chest. His eyes bugged and he looked at Naoto anxiously as she warmly observed the entire exchange, oblivious to his discomfort. The idol soon switched targets and wrapped her arms around Naoto's shoulders instead, and the eldest of the younger three Investigation Team members was soon as ill at ease as Kanji had been. Now that he was freed of the idol's affectionate iron grip, however, the youngest of their trio was quite content.

“You guys are my best friends in the world,” she declared tearfully, finally releasing her detective friend and regarding them both with eyes sparkling. “And you're _finally_ together now and I don't have to worry about you two and everything is exactly as it should be.” She wiped away a stray tear, carefully so as not to smudge what little makeup she was wearing, and grinned brightly. “How about as thanks for my part in this-" she gestured pointedly towards the two of them, "you name your first kid after me?”

“R-Rise-san…!”

“Damnit, Rise! A-ain’t you jumpin’ the gun a little!?”

The idol only laughed at her friends’ distress, much to Kanji’s annoyance, winking playfully as she tucked the charms securely into her apron pocket. “Oh come on, you two are gonna have the _cutest_ babies,” she gushed, her hands clasped under her chin. “All black or indigo hair with little stubborn attitudes and big brains-“

“Th-that’s quite enough of that brand of speculation, if you don’t mind,” Naoto stammered, attempting to hide her blush behind her hand. Kanji was just as red as she was as the image of a pregnant Naoto coming home to the shop after a long day at the station materialized in his mind. Her hair was shoulder-length and her button-down, custom-tailored (by him, of course) maternity blouse cut a flattering silhouette, a sash tied just under the bustline causing the fabric below it to drape over the top and sides of her belly without making her look like she was wearing a potato sack. She placed her briefcase on the chabudai before bending down to place a soft kiss on the head of a tiny, blue-haired girl prancing around with a familiar pink plush bunny in tow, then turned to greet him with a decidedly longer kiss as he rested his hands - the left of which sported a plain gold band on the third digit - on either side of her growing belly. She laughed with him as their unborn child sent a greeting of his own by way of a sharp kick beneath one of his palms-

“Hell _oooo,_ Earth to Kanji!” A hand waving in front of his face snapped him back to reality and he blinked several times before focusing on Rise, whose hands were indignantly perched on her hips, and Naoto, bag back on her shoulder, who was next to her now, eyeing him curiously. “Did you hear me at _all_??”

“Uh… no, I didn’t. Sorry,” he said meekly.

“I _said_ ,” she stressed, “you two should go next door and grab ice cream for all of us. By the time you come back with it, Grandma should be back and we can go eat it down by the river or something.”

“S-sure, sounds good to me,” he said, making to leave the shop before he embarrassed himself any further. He was still kinda trying to imagine what that kick would feel like, besides.

“Don’t you need to help with the barrage of customers you're expecting?” Naoto pointed out, adjusting the bag’s strap on her shoulder until it lay more comfortably across it.

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t expecting you two to be quick or anything.” Rise gave them a suggestive wink, giggling as Kanji’s face glowed and Naoto gave her a tired glare. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll stop teasing. For now. Just come back in about an hour and I should be good to go.”

“We can swing by the shop and see if Ma needs anything first,” Kanji suggested, and Naoto dipped her head in agreement. The two said their see-you-laters to Rise, greeted her grandmother warmly when they bumped into her just outside the doors, and hung a left to return to Kanji’s home just as a small crowd was starting up the street past the bookstore en route to Marukyuu.

~*~

After a pleasant evening with the rest of the Team, Kanji and Naoto found themselves in his room once more, their studies long forgotten in their embrace. Kanji really had meant to focus on the reading, especially since he only had three more days with Naoto before she made a (hopefully) short trip back to Tokyo, and he didn’t want to spend the last days of the summer vacation on homework. But then Naoto started being all cute in an effort to motivate him, rewarding correct answers to math problems with kisses on various places on his face and jawline. One thing lead to another and now here they were, books forgotten on the tabletop, Kanji’s shirt long since discarded, and Naoto lounging beneath him as his lips and tongue worked at her neck.

“Kanji…” she breathed, gasping as he lightly nipped at her pulse, “th-this is… counterprodu-“ she gasped again – “-not h-homework…”

Kanji only hummed against her skin, which came out as more of a growl than he had intended, drawing his hand up under the hem of her shirt and caressing the soft skin at her waist. She protested halfheartedly again, which he silenced by pressing his lips to hers, pouring as much passion into the kiss as he could manage. He loved this woman – had for some time – and since he wasn't brave enough to say it out loud yet, he figured he would show it whenever, and however, he could. Even if - _especially_ if - it resulted in procrastinating. "Yer fault," he eventually managed after breaking the kiss to move back to her throat. Something he did then must've been particularly effective; the sound that came out of her as a result was enticing enough to send a jolt of heat the size of his persona's lightning-shaped projectile straight to his core. He grasped her hips to still them as she writhed beneath him. "Shit, Naoto," he hissed, nipping playfully at the skin just above her collarbone. "Gotta stay still or I'm gonna be hurtin' later."

"Wh-what do you mean-" she whispered forcefully, her fingers grasping at his hair at the nape of his neck, nails digging into his scalp. She had said once that the gesture helped her focus on something enough to calm the fires within her. An unfortunate technique to employ, really, because all it did was drive Kanji wild.

"If you keep squirmin' like that, you're gonna feel a lot more than my hands there in a minute," he said through clenched teeth, desperately trying to control himself. He wanted nothing more than to let her have her way with him right there on his bedroom floor, but it was the worst of ideas considering they were not alone in the house. Kanji pulled back just enough to allow their gazes to meet, the intensity of which made him nearly lose said control. Her pupils were dilated, the blue a bit darker than usual, and her skin was flushed, hat forgotten and hair mussed, mouth just slightly open and her bottom lip a bit swollen where she'd been biting it to keep quiet.

She was _perfect_.

Naoto's expression softened and she dropped a hand from his hair to his cheek, running her thumb lightly across it. "We should... probably get back to the assignment..." she murmured, brushing a stray chunk of his hair back into place. They said nothing, continuing to stare at each other, Kanji leaning into her touch to the point of nuzzling her palm, turning his face to place a kiss to it. She blushed a little deeper and smiled shyly, tracing a line across his skin from his scar down to the pit of his throat, then sliding her fingertips down his side as the other hand gently massaged around the base of his neck. She dropped her gaze for only a moment while his held, and when she looked back up through her lashes, something in both of them snapped.

"Fuck it," Kanji rumbled, and they both met each other in the middle once more. Their movements were more frantic now, more heated, and Kanji felt himself growing harder by the second. A very ( _very_ ) small voice in the back of his head kept saying this probably wasn't the best idea - sounded like Take-Mikazuchi if he'd been Sukuna-Hikona's size - but his hormones were steering the ship now, and so were hers, if the bucking of her hips and each sharp breath were any indication.

“K-Kan-“ she gasped, her breathing shallow as his hands traveled higher up her ribcage-

An assertive knock at the door sent an icy flood of panic through both of them at once and they scrambled apart. Naoto quickly straightened her blouse and pulled her cap back on, trying to fix her hair beneath it while Kanji grappled for his shirt halfway across the room. “Kanji-chan? Is Naoto-kun still here?” his mother's voice floated through the traditional paneling as he hastily yanked the shirt back over his head.

“Y-yeah, Ma,” Kanji answered as he grabbed the pillow Naoto was shaking at him, her face entirely red, smashing it down on top of his lap and praying his voice didn’t crack. “We’re still workin' on this math crap.” _Please don’t open the door please don’t open the door please don’t open the do-_

“That’s fine, dear,” Mrs. Tatsumi said. The flustered couple stared down the door anxiously, which showed no sign of movement. “May I come in?”

Kanji glanced at Naoto in concern and smoothed his shirt as best he could, noting she did the same despite having just done so. Mrs. Tatsumi did not request _permission_ to enter any room in her home except the bathroom, closed door or not, and he hoped against hope that they had not been overheard.

Naoto jumped to her feet when Kanji failed to do so and went to open the door for his mother out of courtesy. “Of course, Tatsumi-san," she said with a small bow once the door was open wide, revealing the kindly matriarch holding a cup of tea in each hand. Kanji released the breath he'd been holding; his Ma hadn't asked to come in because she'd _heard_ them, she'd asked because her hands were full! Bullet dodged. "I hope we didn't disturb you during our tutoring session,” Naoto continued as she stepped aside to allow Mrs. Tatsumi to enter the room unhindered.

 _ **Thank youuu,** Naoto, for sounding more put together than I do,_ Kanji silently lauded.

Mrs. Tatsumi gave her son and his guest a warm smile as she offered each of them a cup. “I thought I’d bring you both something to drink,” she told them, rising to her full height after stooping to hand Kanji's cup down to him. “It is getting quite late, though, and I’d hate for Naoto to miss the last bus. Please be sure you keep an eye on the time.”

“S-sure thing, Ma.” _I swear, any time I start getting too excited again, I will think of this_ exact _moment,_ Kanji mused in anguish, finally mostly calm underneath the pillow. _Still gonna be hurtin' later, though..._

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Tatsumi-san,” Naoto said, bowing deeply in deference. "I drove here on my scooter today, so I neglected to pay the time any mind as pertains to the bus schedule. I will take my leave as soon as we finish the last few problems on this page, if that’s acceptable. I would hate to overstay my welcome.”

Kanji's mother was immediately contrite, waving a hand through the air in dismissal. “Oh no, no need to rush, my dear! You are more than welcome in our home at any time, for as long as you wish to stay. I only wanted to be sure you weren’t stranded this far from your grandfather's estate without a ride home if you need to return tonight.”

“If necessary, Yakushiji-san could pick me up," Naoto explained, "but it is, of course, ideal not to disturb him this late, job or not.” She took her teacup and raised it to her lips in a show of gratitude. “Thank you very much for the tea as well, Tatsumi-san. I am uncertain I will ever be able to repay the generosity you've shown me.”

“Oh, it’s my pleasure, dear. The happiness you bring my son is more than enough.” Mrs. Tatsumi gave the two a short bow and turned to leave the room, at which point Kanji slumped over his tea in relief. “Oh, and Kanji-chan?” He shot up again, his back straight and stiff as a board, and looked up anxiously out of the corner of his eye.

"Uh... y-yeah?"

The look on his mother's face was devilish and his stomach plummeted. “Your shirt is inside-out. You may want to see to that before you finish up your homework.” With a twinkle in her eye, Mrs. Tatsumi walked out the door, leaving it open a crack behind her. Naoto dropped her face in her hands, completely mortified, and Kanji, now pale as a sheet in his humiliation, quickly removed his shirt and flipped it right-side-out before replacing it with a huff.

“I have never wished you still had your own apartment more than I do right now,” Kanji groaned, doubling over and smacking his forehead repeatedly against his math textbook. He rested his head on the book momentarily as his mother's mischievous smirk flashed again in his mind, after which he immediately started banging his head on the book again in an effort to dismiss the image.

“I had no need for it over the last several months since I was gone more than I was here,” Naoto said, her speech stilted as she massaged her temples with her eyes squeezed shut. She opened them after a moment and folded her hands on top of the table. “I did happen to renegotiate the lease a couple weeks ago, though,” she added.

“Really?” Kanji honestly tried not to sound as eager as he felt. And failed entirely.

“Really,” Naoto laughed. “I arranged to pick up the keys when I return from Tokyo.”

“Yes!” He pumped his fist in the air, the earlier mishap all but pushed from his mind. “You’ll be a lot closer to here again, yeah?”

“Just a short five-minute ride up the street, rather than twenty minutes or so, yes. And, if you’re willing and available, I would appreciate your assistance in bringing some things over from the estate once I'm back.”

“ _Hell_ yeah, I’m your man!” Kanji exclaimed proudly, flexing with a hand on his bicep. “You can leave the heavy lifting to me.”

“Are you making an effort to impress me, Kanji?” she inquired, the corner of her mouth creeping upward as she rested her chin in her hand.

“K-kinda,” he admitted, grinning sheepishly. “It don’t matter if ya already know you can rely on me. I wanna keep showin’ ya you can.” Naoto just kept gazing at him with the same expression on her face, saying nothing for what felt like longer than was strictly necessary. “Uh… what?” he pressed hesitantly, holding the back of his neck as he tended to do when uncertain.

“Nothing, just…” she ducked her head and chuckled to herself before looking back at him, her head cocked to the side in wonder. The awed expression on her face was so adorable, Kanji’s heart skipped a beat. “I know that ‘luck’ is an imaginary construct, but I find it’s the only word I can use to describe the way I regard your presence in my life.” She sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap. “I’ve reflected on my good fortune quite often over the last few days.”

“Same here,” he said quietly, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “I dunno if I’m smart enough-“

“Kanji,” Naoto warned, eyes flashing.

“Okay, okay,” he chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. “ _Wordy_ enough, I guess, to really say how it feels to be with you after crushing on you for so long without sayin’ nothin'.”

“Had I known it was only a matter of dancing with you, I would have done so much sooner,” Naoto admitted, her cheeks tinged pink as she stared into her lap.

Kanji balked at her confession, slamming his palms against the table edge in surprise. “L-like… h-how mu- uh… how much earlier're we talkin'?” He had to clear his throat once or twice to get the words past the lump that had taken residence there.

“A few months, perhaps.”

_What!?_

“I know," she said, as if chastising herself. It took Kanji a moment to realize it was because he'd said that out loud. "I was unwilling to admit that there was a name for the way I felt about you until around that time, sometime after Valentine’s Day,” she told him, her eyes focused on the table. “I spent that entire day with the impression I had missed some grand opportunity, and you kept coming to mind. By White Day, I could no longer ignore how disappointed I was after not receiving anything from you, though I was fully aware I had failed to initiate the process that would yield such a result.”

“You liked me _that long_ and didn’t say anything?!” he exclaimed once he'd remembered how his mouth worked. “Couldn’t you tell I liked ya?”

Naoto shifted nervously on her knees, looking everywhere but at him. “W-well… e-even if I could, it was still quite some time before I came to terms with how I felt. I, um… m-made a list, of every positive and potentially negative consequence of confessing I could think of. At the top of the cons list was rejection, followed by losing your friendship. Neither was something I was willing to risk without more concrete evidence of your interest in me.”

Kanji shook his head and laughed dryly. “Man, _everybody_ else knew, from day one,” he told her, rubbing his temple just below his scar. “I dunno how you missed that. Ain’t you a detective?” Naoto scowled and threw a balled-up piece of paper at him, which he dodged with a genuine laugh this time. “Yeah, I deserved that.” She dropped her gaze again as Kanji just watched her, and after a moment, he noticed she almost looked... ashamed. A wave a guilt crashed over him and he scooted over until his knees pressed against her thigh. "Shit, Naoto, I... I was joking around, y'nkow?" he soothed, scooping her hands between his own and bringing them to his lips. "You're the smartest person I know, and the best damn detective Japan has ever seen. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. 'Sides, it ain't like _I_ knew you liked me until we were makin' out, and even then I couldn't really believe it."

She chuckled and nodded, kissing his knuckles in return. Kanji bent over to nudge her forehead with his own, and they stayed that way for a time, listening to the sound of their breathing and - in Kanji's case - very much hoping this would continue long enough to put their homework off for the rest of the evening. It was not to be, alas, and Naoto withdrew after placing a chaste peck to the corner of his mouth.

“Come on, let's finish the tea your mother was so kind to bring before it gets much colder, and then complete our assignment. I really _should_ be getting home soon, your mother’s advisement notwithstanding.” She took a long sip of the still warm liquid, eyes sliding shut in contentment.

"I wish ya could stay,” Kanji murmured, pouting into his own teacup.

"Perhaps _you_ can, every now and then, once I’m back in my apartment,” Naoto said, nudging him gently with her shoulder to assuage him. There was no crude suggestion in her tone or expression; she simply desired his company.

"Yeah, that’d be real nice,” he nodded happily, his heart rate picking up as she leaned against him. They remained that way in comfortable silence as they finished their tea, content in the presence of the other, until Naoto finished off her cup and switched it out for her textbook.

“Right then, let's continue. If we delay much longer, I may end up falling asleep on your floor."

"No complaints," Kanji quipped, twirling his pencil through his fingers.

"I know," Naoto smiled, "but I do need to return home tonight or Grampa will worry. Now..." She paused, lips pursed, and flipped through the pages in search of where they had left off. "We had started on inverse functions, correct?”

Kanji flopped back onto his floor with his book opened over his face. " _Ugh,_ don’t remind me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo many quotation marks... this chapter gave me exceptional trouble. These children, I swear.
> 
> OH, I wrote a little excerpt for this fic in the big kannao Training collab with some of the lovelies. You can find it here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12470404/chapters/28843425
> 
> There are several other chapters posted by my co-authors, with more still on the way, and they're AMAAAAZE. Read everything!


	5. Day Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which imaginations and introspection run wild.

For ten minutes and counting, Naoto had been pacing back and forth across her bedroom floor, debating whether or not she should be patient or storm through the Shopping District at once. She had tried several times that morning to get in touch with Kanji, and it was now past lunch and she still hadn’t heard back. It wasn’t that she expected him to message or call her back right away, or even quickly... but his replies were usually almost immediate. Now that there was the additional circumstance of him missing their date, she couldn’t quash the worry bubbling in her chest. Resisting the urge to text or call every five minutes after no contact for a couple of hours had been maddening, especially since they had agreed to meet for lunch at Aiya before she'd left his house the night prior. Her head was telling her nothing was wrong; perhaps he had neglected to charge his phone battery overnight, or his mother needed his help at the shop - Rise _had_ mentioned those commissions yesterday, after all. But then, why wouldn’t the battery be charged by this late in the day? Or what if something had happened to him or his mother that kept him from messaging her back? What if… what if the biker gang Kanji had singlehandedly subdued had risen from the ashes and come to exact their revenge over the course of the night? What if the Tatsumis needed her help now and it was her foolish insecurity over appearing too attached that prolonged their suffering now…!?

Naoto glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time. _14:07,_ it read. “That’s it, I’m going,” she declared to the empty room, securing her gun in its holster hidden the lining of her jacket. This jacket… Kanji had made it for her for Christmas this past year, pointing out her tendency to get cold in milder weather but to overheat if she wore her heavier jackets too early in the season. It was a flattering cut in an open blazer style with a single button just below the bustline, in the event she wished to close it. It wasn’t terribly different from styles she had seen in Okina stores, or even her own outerwear, except that it had several functional pockets throughout.

Two were located where one would expect to find pockets on a jacket, but there were no less than six extras hidden in the lining. He had even thought to incorporate the aforementioned (rather ingenious) fabric holster which utilized light horsehair boning sturdy enough to hold its shape when the jacket was worn loosely, but flexible enough to collapse when the holster was not in use. The pocket which held her Moleskine even had a thin slot next to it just for her favorite pen. The jacket itself was a flattering shade of cerulean blue, dyed specially to coordinate with her cap and most of the things she already owned. He had also incorporated impossibly thin white piping along the front and back seams to flatter her curves, as well as along the cuffs, which were reversible as far as the elbow thanks to a line of eight delicate pearlescent buttons reaching to her mid forearm. The lining was a subtle, distinguished plaid of blues and whites, also chosen for its ability to go well with things she had worn before.

The jacket’s hem was flared just slightly, fanning out at a flattering mid-hip length when closed, hitting just above the joint there when left open. More often than not, she wore it closed, as she did today on her scooter. Once she reached her destination – the cramped alleyway between Kanji’s home and the shrine, she switched to the open style in the event she would need quick access to her sidearm.

Quick work was made of canvassing the outside of the home, crouched low so as to avoid alerting any potential intruders to her presence. No signs of forced entry at any of the first level windows or the back door – that was a good sign. She took a deep breath before straightening and stepping carefully towards the front of the shop. The doors were closed, but they sometimes were while the shop was open during weather that was too humid, too cold, or too hot, so this in and of itself was no cause for alarm. This entrance seemed intact as well, so, steeling herself for anything, she gripped the door handle and pulled it open-

-To find no one in the shop. That was odd; were they not open right now? It was a weekday at midday, so it _should_ be… Naoto glanced around, noting everything in its usual place, apart from the building’s occupants anyway. “H…hello?” she called out hesitantly, stepping further into the large room but opting not to proceed further than the raised platform Mrs. Tatsumi usually sat on while running the store. There was no response so she called out again, a little louder this time... still nothing. Making her way cautiously towards the back of the shop, a strange whirring caught her ear; it seemed to be coming from a room down the hall. She tugged on the lapels of her jacket and, with a determined nod and a silent apology to Mrs. Tatsumi for intruding so, made her way towards the origin of the noise. Each step was soundless throughout her approach; she was a trained professional, after all. When just outside the doorway of the room the sound was coming from, she took a deep breath and peered slowly around the frame. Her entire body relaxed as she let out the breath she'd been holding.

Kanji had his back to her, skillfully guiding a length of pink and purple floral fabric along the path of his sewing machine's needle. To his right stood a mannequin with more of the same fabric draped across one shoulder and the torso, secured in place by a number of straight pins. Naoto basked in relief with a hand pressed above her heart, a stab of regret interrupting her calm when Kanji turned to adjust the fabric billowing behind him and visibly jumped.

“N-Naoto! What’re you doin’ here?”

“You know, you ask me that a lot,” she joked, still standing in the doorway with her hands folded just under her collarbone. 

“Well, if you wouldn’t keep showin’ up when I’m not expectin’ it…” he trailed off. “Uh, not that I’m complainin’ or nothin’,” he added in a rush. Draping his project over the table to keep it from pulling away from the machine, Kanji stood, crossed the room, and placed a kiss on her forehead in greeting. “I’m glad you're here.”

“I a-apologize for barging in like this,” she said meekly, ducking her head in embarrassment. “I had been attempting to contact you all morning with no response, and grew worried you were hurt or otherwise incapacitated, s-so…” Naoto cleared her throat awkwardly and looked off to the side. “It’s just that, in my line of work, one can come to expect the worst when presented with unknow-“

“Wait, 'all morning?' What-“ Kanji looked up at a clock on the wall, which read – incorrectly – _10:47_. “The hell? I _swear_ that's what it said when I looked earlier… aw, shit. What time is it really?”

“It must be around a quarter to three in the afternoon by now,” she estimated, checking her watch to confirm. _14:39_. Close enough.

“ _Shit!_ ” Kanji spat. “I am _so_ sorry, Naoto, I totally missed our lunch. Ma and I’ve been workin’ on these commissions for Rise since the ass crack of dawn. Lost track of time.” His arms enveloped her, drawing her into his chest, and she readily mimicked the gesture around his waist. “Sorry I worried ya.”

“No need to apologize,” she murmured, her voice muffled by his work apron. “I should have just waited for you to respond.”

“Ya couldn’t have after this long,” Kanji chuckled. “You're a detective. Like ya said, you guys 've seen some shit. I’m kinda surprised ya waited as long as you did.”

“I... I didn’t want to overreact,” she mumbled. Her mouth fell open to say something else, more apologies and explanations for her overactive imagination, but the words went unsaid for the time being.

“Naoto-kun! What a pleasant surprise!” Mrs. Tatsumi chose that moment to walk up behind them, and they sprang apart immediately. “Oh, don’t mind me,” she said cheerfully as she passed by, carrying a bolt of shimmering fabric and a couple of mostly completed pieces draped over her arm. “Just pretend I’m not here.”

“Ma!”

“I was young once too, you know. I remember Kanji’s father and I used to-“

“ _MA._ ”

“All right, all right,” she laughed, leaning the bolt against the second worktable in the room, completely disregarding her son's fierce blush. Freed of the larger burden, she placed a pleated, asymmetric skirt and an embellished bolero-style jacket on a rack behind the mannequin. “So what brings you here, Naoto-kun?”

“Um… I... well.” Recounting her fears for Kanji’s mother suddenly seemed too daunting, and humiliating, a task to undertake. Kanji was easier; he was more familiar with her… eccentricities, as it were.

“We were s’posed ta meet up for lunch and I didn’t pay attention to what time it was,” Kanji cut in, saving her from going into the details of her... hyper-dynamic thought process. “Or actually, I paid attention to the _wrong_ time. Did you know that damn clock’s busted?”

“Oh, yes. I keep meaning to replace the battery, but every time I go to do just that, I’m called away to something else.” Kanji glowered at his mother's carefree admission. 

“Ya coulda asked me ta do it, ya old bat,” he grumbled, arms folded tightly across his chest. 

“And I would have, had I thought about it, but as I said – constantly sidetracked.” Mrs. Tatsumi took the chair Kanji had been occupying on Naoto’s arrival, closely examining his progress. “Fine work, Kanji-chan,” she complimented. Kanji muttered a clumsy thank you in reply. “I’ll take it from here for now. Why don’t you go take Naoto-kun out for a while? She _is_ leaving again in a couple days, isn’t she?”

“T-that’s correct,” Naoto confirmed, trying - and failing - to mask the disappointment in her voice.

“Then go. You’ve done enough work today. We’re ahead of schedule on these outfits for Rise-chan.” Despite his protests, Mrs. Tatsumi shooed them out of the room. “Oh, and could you two lock up on your way out? We need to close the shop early to finish these.”

“Of course, Tatsumi-san.”

“Fine. But I'm fixin' that clock the second I get back!”

With that, Mrs. Tatsumi turned her back on them and went about her work. Once out of the room's line of sight, Kanji looked Naoto up and down for a moment with an odd expression that made her stomach feel funny before taking her hand and pulling her behind him.

“Did you have any chance to eat after breakfast?” Naoto asked, keeping pace quite well through the hallway. 

“Nah, not yet. I didn’t even realize how hungry I was until you got here. Speaking of hungry...” Once in the empty storefront, he stopped, turned on a dime, and kissed her fervently, dipping her backwards as he did so. She fell into his embrace with a startled hum that melted into one of content until he broke away slowly, feeling the usual heat taking residence in her face. She idly wondered if her propensity for blushing would diminish over time as she grew more accustomed to his affections.

“What was that for?” she murmured, trailing her fingers across his lips once he'd drawn the both of them upright.

“There’s just... I dunno, _some_ thin’ about you wearin’ one of the things I made,” he replied huskily, kissing her fingertips as they came to rest on his mouth. 

“Then I shall endeavor to proudly display your work more often,” she said coquettishly, watching the way his lips danced across her hand with fascination. He smirked as he pushed past her fingers to kiss her fully once more, a more expeditious release following this one. 

“Awright, let’s get outta here and grab some grub,” he said, stretching his arms over his head as a number of cracks sounded off in his back and joints. “Aiya still okay? At least we’ve missed the lunch rush by now.”

“That sounds wonderful, Kanji.” She buttoned her blazer again before sauntering ahead of him, stopping to the side just before walking into the sunshine with her hand held out in invitation. She did not miss the desire in his eyes as he watched her and smirked victoriously. “Lead the way.”

~*~

“Yo, Kanji, Naoto!” Chie's boisterous greeting drew the young couple's attention from where they sat - as well as half the restaurant's - as she and Yukiko entered the cozy Chinese eatery, closely followed by Yu and Yosuke.

“Hello, senpai,” Naoto greeted with a respectful nod of her head. 

“You don’t hafta call us senpai now that we’ve graduated, Naoto,” Yosuke insisted, pounding his shoulder between the joint and his neck in a clumsy attempt at Shiatsu massage. “Even if we hadn’t, we’ve been through too much for that kinda formality.”

“He’s got a point,” Chie agreed. She looked rather harried, hair mussed and mascara just slightly smudged under her eyes. Yosuke wasn't faring much better, sans the makeup, of course. Even Yukiko looked slightly frazzled, and she _never_ appeared the slightest bit out of sorts.

“What’re you guys doin’?” Kanji asked warily, the group's haggard appearance catching even his attention. "Ya look like you just spent hours training in the TV."

“I wish! We've been... studying,” Yosuke said grimly, taking a seat at the counter with Yu following suit on the stool next to him. Kanji nodded sympathetically and returned to his meal.

“Yu and Yosuke have special exams to study for, Yukiko’s got her licensing exam in a couple of months, and I’ve got the police academy entrance exam looming over my head,” Chie elaborated, hanging her head in dismay. “This real world stuff _sucks!_ ”

“Come on, Chie, it’s not that bad,” Yukiko encouraged. “Once you finish this exam, the physical exam, the final review, and the certification exam, you won’t have to study anymore.”

“UGHHHH…” Chie groaned loudly, once again drawing the attention of several other restaurant patrons.

“Careful with all that exam talk, Yukiko-san, she might get herself kicked out for public indecency with all that moaning,” Yosuke quipped, wheeling around to face front as Aika came up to take their order.

“I’m too tired to deal with you right now, Yosuke,” Chie muttered, plopping down in the empty seat next to Naoto and dropping her head on her arms in despair.

“Sorry for crashing your date. We just came from a pretty long cram session at Junes,” Yu explained, his tone apologetic.

“Yeah, and Chie said there wasn’t enough meat there to sustain her,” Yosuke added, a measure of sympathy underlying his amusement, “so we came here.”

“I’m glad you’re both here,” Yukiko said as she sat next to Kanji. She pursed her lips in concern, observing her best friend dissolved on the table for a moment before turning her attention back to their younger companions. “Naoto-kun is leaving soon, and we’ll all be pretty busy by the time she gets back, right?”

“Assuming I don’t decide to forget about the police academy and join some secret kung fu dojo in the mountains somewhere,” came Chie’s voice, muffled in the small space between her face, arms, and the too-polished tabletop.

“You’re talkin’ crazy, Chie-senpai,” Kanji said through a mouthful of food. “You’re plenty motivated enough to kick that thing’s ass. Dunno why you're so worried about it.”

“Yeah, Chie,” Yosuke chimed in. The snide commentary was gone and he was all empathy and sincerity, a hand gently placed on the back of her shoulder as he leaned across the narrow space between the counter stool and the chair to reassure her. Kanji wondered if something had finally happened between those two, or maybe _started_ to happen. “You got this. You just gotta stop psyching yourself out and remember how much you want to protect this town, right?”

Chie lifted her head off her arms and looked at him for a second too long and then the rest of the group in turn. “Yeah, you're right,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “Thanks, guys.”

“Of course we're right, it's _us_ ,” Yu said. “Now, Yosuke’s going to bring you the biggest beef bowl they have today, we’re all going to eat our fill, and then we’re going to go right back to studying until dinner.”

“Free nikudon!!” Chie cheered joyfully, blissfully ignorant of the pained glare Yosuke was throwing his partner.

“Hey Naoto, did you ever hafta take that exam Chie-senpai’s talkin’ about?” Kanji asked, his mouth clear of food this time.

“I’m afraid not,” Naoto answered. She rested her chopsticks along the edge of her bowl. “Freelance detectives aren’t held to the same hard-and-fast rules as precinct detectives are, so I’ve never had to take it.”

“Too bad, you coulda helped her study.” Naoto just looked at him, her expression completely neutral. His hand, halfway to his mouth with another bite of food, froze midway and his eyes widened in realization. "Uh, s-sorry... didn't mean ta just... volunteer you for stuff..."

“Oh Chie will be fine, Kanji-kun,” Yukiko insisted. Kanji swallowed hard once Naoto's attention had shifted to the girl next to him. “She’s just stressed right now, but it’s all information she already knows. And none of us need to take more of Naoto-kun's time than is strictly necessary before she leaves, after all.” Yu and Yosuke were still at the counter discussing something the latter seemed embarrassed about. Now that her usual vigor had returned, Chie rested her chin in her hands and eyed the couple at the table with great interest.

“Sooo, how is everything going with you two?” she asked as if the relationship weren't less than a week old and she hadn't just seen them a couple days ago.

“Senpai, ain’t that private? How would you feel if I came up an’ asked if you an’ Yosuke-senpai finally hooked up yet?” Yukiko burst out laughing. Kanji stared flatly at her.

“Kanji-kun, what the hell??” Chie choked on her own saliva before furiously shushing the table. 

“N-no developments yet,” Yukiko offered, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye after calming down. When Chie glared across the table at her, she shrugged innocently. “What? _Everyone_ is wondering at this point.”

Naoto opted for the diplomatic approach. “While it is none of our business, as details of my relationship with Kanji-kun are none of _yours_ , I will admit there does seem to be some… similar chemistry between you two, Chie-senpai,” she pointed out. “Whatever happens, may you both find the same contentment I have.” She smiled across the table at Kanji and he visibly melted. 

“I’m so happy for you two,” Yukiko chirped happily, clasping her hands together under her chin. “Rise-chan hasn’t stopped talking about it either!”

“She always _has_ had a tendency to pry more than most,” Naoto chuckled, shaking her head in resignation. 

“She cares, ya know? A lot more’an most,” Kanji said, shoving a bit of food into his mouth. He chewed quickly and swallowed before finishing his thought. “Sometimes I think that’s why her Persona’s the one that knows everythin’ about everybody.”

“You know, Kanji-kun... you might be right,” Chie granted thoughtfully. “I actually never thought about it that way before.”

“Neither did I,” Naoto added. Her eyes glittered with pride as she met her partner's laid-back gaze. “An excellent observation, Kanji-kun.”

“Huh? It ain’t nothin’ major. I thought it was obvious and it jus’ took me longer ta… oh. S-sorry, Naoto.” His stammered apology only marginally diminished Naoto's look of immense displeasure.

“I will break you of that habit yet,” she muttered indignantly, frowning as she shoved a small strip of meat into her mouth. The group at the table was quiet for a moment as Naoto's frustration died down, now more guilt as she observed Kanji picking at his beef bowl like a puppy with its tail between its legs.

"I promise I'm tryin' not ta rag on myself so much, Naoto," Kanji finally said, turning a piece of meat over with his chopsticks before picking it up. "I know 'm not stupid, but I also know 'm not as smart as the rest of you most of the time." Naoto opened her mouth again, likely to argue that point, until the other young heiress at the table chimed in.

“You know, book smarts aren’t everything, Kanji-kun,” Yukiko said cheerfully. “Every one of us has his or her strengths. Naoto-kun, for example, is unparalleled when it comes to putting pieces together, whether those pieces are made up of information or metal and circuits.” She nodded across the table at her best friend. “Chie can visualize the exact way a body should move during even the most difficult martial art and imitate it perfectly with minimal effort.” A look to her right towards the counter. “Yosuke-kun has an inherent leadership ability he hasn’t even grown into fully yet, but when it _does_ show itself, it’s impressive and highly motivating.”

Yosuke stopped mid-sentence in whatever it was he was saying to Yu and glanced over his shoulder with an air of suspicion. "Why do I get the feeling somebody just insulted me..."

Yukiko ignored him, tilting her head to the side as she her attention returned to the table. “Rise-chan has a knack for reading people’s emotions better than most because of her deep sense of empathy, and her memory for those she cares about is second to none.” Another glance to her right. “Yu-kun is a master of networking; he can make friends, and not just on a superficial level, everywhere he goes, and never once takes advantage of the loyalty that talent commands.” By now, both Yu and Yosuke were engrossed in their friend's assessment. There was a slight pause as Yukiko's gaze dropped to her hands. “I, myself, have an eye for the beauty and balance within any space, interior spaces in particular, and the ability to see things for what they are as well as what they _could_ be.” A bright smile as she raised her chin once more. “Even Teddie has his pure, unadulterated kindness, even if it does toe - or outright cross - the line of propriety in his desire to get closer to people.” Finally, a deliberate nod to the friend at her side. “At the forefront of _your_ many assets, Kanji, is not only your innate ability to bend shapes and patterns to your will that might not otherwise fit; you also have a strong protective instinct, almost parental in nature. When someone needs something, you always seem to know it and you also know – or figure out – how to take care of it. You place a heavy burden on yourself, more than the rest of us, when it comes to those you care about, even if you barely know them.” Yukiko’s eyes deliberately connected with Naoto’s as she said that last part. “We’re all different, and none of us are boiled down to just one strength, of course… but we’re all better for being different together.”

“Just the sort of grace I'd expect from you, Yukiko-san,” Yu said proudly as he placed a steaming bowl in front of her, Yosuke doing the same for Chie. 

“That was beautiful, Yukiko-san,” Yosuke sniffed overdramatically, playing at wiping a tear from his eye (though Naoto swore she saw a hint of light gleam off that same area just before he did so). 

“Yeah, Yukiko, damn. I never knew you thought about stuff like that,” Chie added. 

“Huh? Of course I do, doesn’t everybody?” Yosuke, Chie, and Kanji stared blankly as Naoto and Yu nodded sagely.

“So what are you two up to today?” Yu asked, standing beside Yosuke – who had just pulled a chair up to the end of the table – poking away at his bowl as if looking for just the right place to dig in. 

“Making up for a bit of lost time from this morning,” Naoto answered, placing her chopsticks on the rest near the base of her bowl having eaten her fill. “Our original plan had been to come here for lunch, but work kept him longer than we had expected.”

“That’s too bad,” Yu sympathized, still rifling around in his bowl. His face brightened and he picked up a modest amount of meat that looked no different from any of the rest of it, but apparently was, as far as he was concerned. “What about the rest of the night?”

Naoto looked across the table in question. Kanji just gave her a nonchalant shrug in response, given his mouth was too full to speak. “No particular plans, it seems,” she answered as she turned her attention back to her senpai. “Why? ”

“Teddie’s been hanging out with Nanako-chan after her piano lessons,” Yosuke explained, not bothering to swallow before doing so, “and then whoever’s able to goes to the Dojimas' to hang out for a while. Most of us haven’t seen her since the LMB Festival, so we were all gonna head over there after another hour or so of study time.” He paused as their resident martial arts enthusiast groaned again. “There, there, Chie…”

“I’m in,” Kanji said, having swallowed the last of his food. Naoto was content to let what little remained of her own to be scooped into Chie’s bowl. “I can get her opinion on what I should teach in our next class.”

“How are those going, by the way?” Yu asked, finally tearing his attention from his nikudon. “I know I haven’t talked to you that much about it, but Nanako says she loves them.”

“She’s the best student ever,” Kanji exclaimed proudly. “Helps me out a lot, brings her friends to the classes… I usually get around ten kids or so every time, an’ some of the moms come too sometimes.”

“Have you started charging people yet?” Yosuke prodded. Apparently not for the first time.

“Damnit, senpai, I toldja ‘m not tellin’ people ta pay me for somethin’ I _like doin’!_ ” he growled in annoyance. “All I do is put up a list of what people need to bring with ‘em for each class, and they either get it from us or they get it from Junes or whatever. Should start chargin’ _you_ for all the business I send your way, really.”

“It would only be fair that he receive a cut of the profits derived from his efforts, Yosuke-senpai,” Naoto chimed in, her expression edging between serious and mischievous.

Yosuke sputtered, pounding on his chest until he managed to swallow without choking on the food he'd nearly inhaled. “Wait, what? How did this turn into a commission-based venture? That _I_ have to pay out on??”

“Well, you keep encouraging him to make money off his talents, right?” Yukiko pointed out.

“I mean, he should, people would pay him,” Chie supported.

Kanji huffed loudly, slamming his palms on the tabletop. “Look, ‘m _not_ chargin’ _kids_ to come an’ learn how ta make cute shit, and that’s that,” he declared, effectively ending the conversation. Naoto surmised he made enough off of his charms and stuffed animals anyway, so there was no real need at this point to collect any class fees. “’Sides, makin’ sure people pay before they show up is a real pain in the ass. Kinda like you an' how ya keep buggin’ me about this shit.” The last part was directed at Yosuke, who scowled in return. 

Ah, how things had changed, and yet remained the same.

~*~

“Naoto-neechan, look, look!” Fresh(ish) from the discussion of Kanji’s classes, the group decided to have a mini-class of their own that evening. Yu had suggested they decorate paper lanterns to release later, and his young cousin had been so enamored by the idea (“like the movie with Rapunzel!” she had cried excitedly) that the entire group had joined in, including Marie – much to Rise’s dismay. Naoto leaned over from her seat at the chabudai in the Dojimas’ living room to examine Nanako’s work. 

“Oh, it’s Loveline!” she cried in realization, quite impressed with the young girl’s artistic talents. “That looks wonderful, Nanako-chan!”

The group’s smallest companion giggled happily, bouncing slightly against her heels as she kneeled next to Naoto. “I’m gonna draw you and me and Dad on it too, ‘cause we’re all detectives!”

“An excellent idea,” Naoto approved. “I look forward to seeing the finished product.” Nanako smiled as only she could and went to show her father, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. Naoto sat back to evaluate her own lantern. It featured a simple design, a sort of minimalist-style portrayal of Yamato-Takeru, fairly spot-on for her limited artistic ability. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing, though, and putting her finger on what that thing could be was no small feat.

“That’s really nice” a voice said directly behind her. Naoto hadn’t even sensed a presence until she heard it and jumped slightly. Only one person(?) could sneak up on her like that successfully.

“Thank you, Marie-san,” Naoto said, nodding respectfully as the girl knelt down next to her. “Where’s your lantern?”

“Oh, I think Red put it somewhere, I was done with it anyway.” Marie waved a hand vaguely in Yukiko’s direction, who was laughing at something Teddie had said – which, by the looks of it, was not intended to be a joke. “That’s your true self, right?"

Naoto’s eyes widened only just; she knew there was no specific reason to fear being overheard in present company, but perhaps it was habit to only speak of the TV world and Personas in hushed tones or in absolute privacy. “Y-yes,” she confirmed quietly. “In one of his evolved forms. This form, his name is-“

“Yamato-Takeru,” Marie interrupted. “Yes, I know.” A beat, and then she asked, “Can you still feel him?” Where was this line of inquiry coming from? The minor goddess had barely spoken two words to her directly before.

“I… know he’s there,” Naoto said, gently touching her chest overlying her heart. “Some times more than others. It is... especially difficult to hear him lately, however.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t have much to say anymore,” Marie ventured casually. Naoto directed her gaze across the room at nothing in particular, partially because she was considering this possibility and partially because the intensity with which Marie held eye contact was, at times, a little unnerving.

Fairly quickly, Naoto snorted at the thought of Yamato-Takeru speechless. “If you had spent any time with my Persona, you would know how unlikely that is.” Her hand fell to her lap and a fond smile followed it. “He has rather frequently offered his opinion on matters, even those insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But he has been far less talkative over the last couple of months.”

“Hm.” Marie traced her finger over the image on Naoto’s lantern carefully, so as not to smudge or otherwise damage it. “You’re dating the tall guy- uh, Tatsumi, right? And I can sense... a connection, a really close one, between your true self and his.” She paused, lips pursed and eyes closed, as if she were listening to something no one else could hear. “Maybe Yamato-Takeru’s quiet because he’s happy.”

Naoto’s concerned expression turned to a confused sort of wonder in a blink. “What gives you that impression?”

“Well… I mean, look at Yu. He’s always quietest when he’s happiest, right? When he’s worried, he talks more. That, and I can kinda tell your true self is loving life right now.”

Naoto stared blankly.

“Goddess, remember?” Marie pointed out.

“O…of course,” the detective conceded bashfully. “It makes perfect sense that you possess the ability to read our Personas. Is it similar to Rise-san’s ability?”

Marie straightened suddenly, her face tinged with color and eyes flashing dangerously. “It’s _way_ better than hers! All she can do is find strengths and weaknesses and whatever, stupidboystealingsuperstarflirtysingingjerkface…”

Evidently, Naoto had stumbled on something of a sore spot.

She returned her attention to the nagging feeling regarding her lantern design as Marie stormed off through the back door, Yu following not far behind looking mildly panicked as storm clouds began to roll in. It wasn’t long before Naoto had company yet again. She had been looking forward to this visitor the most.

“Lookin’ real great, Naoto,” Kanji complimented, resting a hand on her shoulder as he crouched down behind her to appraise her work.

“Thank you, Kanji-kun,” she responded, craning her neck to look him in the eye. “I believe it needs something more, though, and I’m at a bit of a loss as to what that might be.”

Kanji shifted and took a knee beside her, picking the lantern up off the table to examine the design more closely. “Hmm… well, y’can tell who it is, so I dunno if what you’re feelin’ out is there somewhere... huh.” He held his thumb and index finger along his jawline as he further considered the matter. “Look at it this way – what d’you want your lantern to say?”

“As in what prayer or ideal I want it to convey, yes?”

He nodded. "Yeah, like I said."

“I suppose… a peaceful year, with as little to distract me from the great wonders of my life as possible,” she finally told him, fingers ghosting over the edges of the thin recycled paper. “I was able to secure what tranquility we have now with the assistance of my Persona, and as such, I thought he was the perfect representative for said desire.”

“Then I don’t think it’s missin’ anything, Naoto,” Kanji murmured, touching his nose to her temple for the briefest moment; she imagined he was a bit more self-conscious showing affection in front of the Dojimas, and to be honest, so was she. She did allow herself to lean into the touch, though, and smiled up at him as he leaned back again with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder. “We've been through a lot in the last couple’a years, huh?”

“More than enough,” she agreed, her skin tingling beneath his touch. Kanji smiled and, after casting a glance around the room, gave her a quick kiss on the top of her hair before getting to his feet. 

“Gotta go see how everybody’s doin’,” he mumbled, a hand to the back of his neck. She didn’t blame him for blushing; even she was feeling quite a bit warmer than moments prior. 

“O-okay,” she nodded, brightening as he flashed her a grin before leaving her side. A laugh escaped her as she watched Nanako barrel into him, her now-completed picture held high for inspection. He was so good with children, far better than she considered herself, and she mused briefly on what a wonderful father he would make one day. That train of thought flustered her more than she anticipated, however, so she forced her attention back to her project. _“Then I don’t think it’s missin’ anything, Naoto.”_ His words echoed in her mind as her eyes traced Yamato-Takeru’s outline, then wandered to the empty space surrounding him… and it came to her. Of course!

Naoto grabbed for the box of colored pencils in the center of the table and gathered several she would need. What she planned to include was beyond her capabilities as an artist, but this was her lantern, and her prayer, so did it really matter? Still, she carefully created each outline, evenly spacing out the figures so they encircled the entire lantern. A dash of red here, gold there, black and white, more red, pink, some blue, what amounted to a rainbow…

Several minutes later, she stretched her arms in the air, stifling a yawn as she did so, and put the last pencil back in its box on the table. The finished product didn’t look as rudimentary as she had anticipated. In fact, she was quite proud of it now that it was truly complete. Everyone else had long since finished their designs and had opted simply to enjoy each other's company. While Yu, Nanako, and Kanji cooked dinner for the entire group - which smelled like it was nearly ready - Chie was at the kitchen table next to Detective Dojima, taking notes on scratch paper as he went through some of the broader points in the academy exam. Yukiko and Marie were talking quietly, but amicably, on the couch not far from where Naoto sat, and Rise and Teddie were bouncing around behind the crew cooking dinner, the former offering her help periodically and looking quite put out when every offer was politely refused (well, politely by Yu… Kanji kept asking if she thought they had all lost their minds).

Her heart was full as she took it all in, and she looked back down at her lantern with similar affection, turning it slowly in her hands and reciting each name in her head as she did so. Suzuka-Gongen... Amaterasu... Kamui and Susano-o... Izanagi-no-Okami... Kanzeon, and finally, very close to her own Persona, Rokuten-Maou. The enemy had not been defeated by her and Yamato-Takeru's efforts alone; it had been through those of all her friends in tandem that finally won the day. While Kanji hadn't thought Rokuten would fill the perceived void, he was only half right, and as she held the lantern there before her, the images of Rokuten-Maou and Yamato-Takeru staring back at her from the forefront flanked on either side by Kanzeon and Kamui, her mind drifted back to the battles they fought in Magatsu Inaba. She remembered how many times she, Kanji, and their Personas had combined strengths to summon a great skeletal demon, bringing a swift end to some of the more difficult enemies they’d faced along the way. She hoped that, maybe – _just_ maybe – she could maintain the present harmony with just Kanji and their Personas at her side, if need be. Yu and Yosuke were attending university a few cities over, after all, and Rise was in Tokyo most of the time now. Teddie, Yukiko, and Chie were always busy on normal days. In school, it was just the two of them left, and it used to make her a bit sad that the entire crew wasn’t there anymore. It still did, truth be told, but there was a thrill of equal measure when regarding the prospect of tackling the last year of high school, and whatever came after, with Kanji there to support her - just like always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favorite things about Naoto's character that I wish we saw more of in the game (bless the anime for existing tbh) is her overactive imagination. (Lookin' at you, Christmas episode.) I wanted to make sure I brought that aspect of her into this story somehow, and that opening scene all but wrote itself. Poor, lowkey-anxious Noot...


	6. Day Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which nature calls.

Kanji checked and double-checked the two rucksacks on his futon after finally crossing off the last item on his list; he _had_ to make sure he didn’t forget anything. This excursion had been planned for weeks, being one of the best times in the season for this sort of thing, but he hadn’t originally intended on having anyone with him until Naoto insisted on coming along.

_“It’s my last full day here, do you really think I plan to spend it anywhere but with you?”_

_“I’m just gonna be harvestin’ plants an’ flowers an’ berries an’ shit for dyes, Naoto, an’ some of it’s gotta be done late at night. Ya don’t hafta come. I’ll be back real early in the mornin’ and we can get breakfa-“_

_“Then we’ll make a night of it. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all.”_

_“Y-you wanna camp in the mountains with me? Overnight!?”_

_“Why not? It would be no different than when we fell asleep on the couch together after the LMB Festival. There must be a cabin or a campground up there somewhere, correct?”_

As it turned out, there was a whole slew of ‘em not far from where Kanji planned to look around. He had called not an hour ago to reserve one for the night and Naoto had agreed to meet him in front of his house. The plan was to take the train a few stops down the line, one intended for an isolated shrine tucked into the mountain pass outside Inaba and not much else, and hike from there up the path towards their cabin. From there, they'd settle in, have a bento lunch courtesy of Kanji and his mother, map out their search area, and strike out together with the intent to return after they'd gathered at least 90% of their goal stock. Naoto had told him she would bring tools of her own so he wouldn’t be bogged down by “unnecessary burden.” He wondered if she would buy some or borrow whatever was at her family’s estate, but didn’t bother to ask.

Even though the trip was more or less for work, his excitement was at giddy levels, simply due to the prospect of spending so much time with her _truly_ alone and in no real danger for once. He just hoped his nerves wouldn’t get the better of him out there so he could actually maintain decent conversation long enough to connect with her on a deeper level.

Satisfied he had remembered everything they would need, Kanji hoisted his rucksack onto his back and looped the second on his forearm, which contained no more than a thick blanket and two pillows he’d somehow managed to stuff in there, took a deep, steadying breath, and went to bid his mother farewell.

~*~

He’d left the house earlier than he needed to. They had a long day ahead of them and if he knew one thing, it was Naoto’s affinity for coffee when a busy day loomed. Old lady Shiroku had a fondness for it as well and prepared a large carafe every morning that was typically gone before noon. It was just after 7 in the morning at this point, so the brew was fresh and he bought two cups fixed with a small amount of flavored cream. Both were still too hot to drink by the time Naoto arrived to meet him with a duffel bag hanging from her shoulder, looking like she could have used at least three more hours of sleep. She didn’t even resist when he insisted on carrying her bag for her, which he slung across his body by its longer strap after situating the rucksacks he already toted.

“You feelin’ okay?” he asked as they walked to the station. She hadn’t brought her cap with her (he assumed so she wouldn’t lose or damage it), so there was nothing to hide the dark circles contrasting against her pale skin.

“Yes, I just got a bit less sleep than I had originally planned,” she answered, stifling a yawn.

“Stayed up too late readin’, didn’t you?”

“Researching, specifically. I wished to ensure I knew what plants to look out for today.” She pulled her jacket snug around her body, burying her face into it when she couldn’t keep from yawning anymore. 

“For dyes, or to make sure we avoid?”

“Both,” she admitted. Kanji smiled and ran his hand over her hair to smooth it down after the wind had tossed it around.

“I’d’a told you what ta look out for, Naoto,” he chastised gently, his hand dropping to the back of her neck and massaging the knots out of the muscle there. She was always so tense across the back of her shoulders… too much hunching over reports, maybe. “Done this before, y’know?”

“I didn’t want to be a burden on you after forcing my way into this,” she said, cautiously sipping at her coffee and wincing at the still scalding heat once it met her tongue.

“You could never be a burden to me,” he vowed, grinning broadly as she met his gaze with a smile. His hand slipped along her spine to the hollow of her back and he kept it there for the remainder of their trek, occasionally stroking up and down whenever the urge struck. Naoto insisted on buying their train tickets, to “return the favor” of bringing her coffee, she’d said, and once they’d settled in their seats, Kanji double-checked the name of their stop and pulled out his phone to check on the weather forecast. Which, admittedly, he had already done at least six times since last night, but one never knew when Marie might get temperamental. Naoto, at first, had reached into her bag for a book – not Flowers for Algernon, but she had brought that as well – and glanced over a few pages before closing it again and replacing it in her bag. She sipped again at her coffee to check the temperature and, evidently deciding it would do, downed the cup in one fell swoop. He was still nursing his when her head lolled onto his shoulder; she had dozed off.

“Dummy,” he whispered, touching his lips to her hair briefly as she slept. Roughly thirty minutes left until they reached their stop… hopefully that was enough of a nap to make the hike to the cabin easier on her.

~*~

“Wow. This place is…”

“ _Much_ nicer than it looked in the pictures.”

The young couple made their way to their overnight home in the mountains without incident, only to find they’d been placed in one of the more expensive suites. “Should I, uh, go make sure this is where we’re s’posed to be?” Kanji asked tentatively. “’Cause this definitely ain’t what I asked for.” It would be far less of a hassle to move now, before they’d completely unpacked, than to have the mistake be realized hours from now and have to move _then_. 

“I’ll give the main office a call in a moment,” Naoto told him, dropping her bag on one of the chairs at the dining table. “You didn’t pay the amount for _this_ room, correct?”

“Better not have,” Kanji grumbled. “I asked ‘em for just a regular ol’ cabin, nothin’ special.”

“Right then. I have no cellular service, of course, but I imagine there’s a landline installed here somewhere…” Kanji went about settling in – minimally until the room debacle was sorted – as Naoto combed the suite for a phone until finally locating one in the bedroom. He listened as she spoke quietly with the resort staff, not really hearing what she was saying but enjoying the sound of her voice nonetheless. When it stopped, he came to attention at once, a bento held in midair. “They said they mistakenly rented out their last standard cabin before we arrived, and as this one isn’t scheduled to be occupied for another week or so, they put us here at no extra charge,” she reported.

“Wow. Lucky us, huh?” Kanji whistled.

“Indeed,” Naoto agreed. “This is one of the few cabins with a Western-style bed, and there’s apparently a hot tub in the bathroom.” Kanji raised a brow curiously at her, prompting her to elaborate, "There was a pamphlet on the nightstand next to the phone."

“That’ll come in handy after we’ve been out hikin’ all day.” The two began to unpack completely now that there was no risk of displacement, until Naoto excused herself to retire to the bedroom for a bit while he made something for lunch. She mentioned taking advantage of the momentary downtime to rest after he insisted on her relaxing while he cooked. He figured he would also prepare some boxed items for the trail and get their rucksacks ready for the work ahead, which had the added benefit of giving Naoto more time to nap. Periodically, he popped his head into the bedroom to check on her, and seeing her sleep so peacefully filled him with warmth. For the first time, it _really_ hit him that this could quite possibly be how he lived out the rest of his life, and he prayed to everything that would listen that things would play out that way.

~*~

“Kanji, I found more wild berries over here,” Naoto called, not thirty paces from where he was culling a patch of bright blue flowers. “Deep purple, it seems.” She must have squeezed one onto the white cheesecloth she’d brought along.

“Awesome! We’ll need more a’those for sure.” Kanji carefully snipped the stalk of another flower at an angle near its base, settling it carefully with the rest he’d gathered before wrapping the cut ends with a damp cheesecloth of his own. “Remember not to take too much of ‘em. We wanna make sure there’s enough left for the plant to reproduce for next season.”

“Of course,” she responded, and then fell silent once more as she went about her work. Kanji found something incredibly attractive about the fact she was working so hard at one of _his things_ , and doing so well! At this rate, they would be able to take a good, long break before their night shift. Maybe even have time to make dinner?

“Agh, _shit!!_ ” He looked down at his hand, grimacing at the thick blob of blood oozing from a cut on his finger. Guess he was asking for it by not paying attention…

“What happened?” Naoto was at his side with her half-full basket of berries and bag of tools in moments.

“Got careless and cut the hell outta my finger,” he answered, lifting his finger to his mouth. Her hand shot out to stop him immediately, gloved hand wrapped around his wrist and not quite clearing the entire circumference.

“No, don’t suck on it. You could unintentionally introduce additional bacteria into the wound that way.” Naoto removed her gloves with her teeth, reached into her bag, and withdrew a small spray bottle and a clean cloth, along with an individually wrapped adhesive bandage. “Here, let me.” Carefully, she dabbed at the blood to clear it from the laceration in order to inspect it more closely. Her head tilted this way and that, hands turning his injured one accordingly, and seemingly satisfied with whatever she saw, she took the bottle and spritzed it onto the cut a few times.

“ _SHIT,_ that stings,” he hissed, trying (and failing) not to flinch.

“Sorry,” Naoto empathized, not taking her attention from wound care. “I should have warned you.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” he dismissed, squaring his jaw as she continued dabbing gently at the cut with a clean corner of the cloth. “Ain’t nothin’ worse than I’ve had before, right?”

Naoto didn’t respond aloud, but smiled as she continued cleaning the wound. Once finished, she sprayed once more directly on the cut (he just managed not to hiss again when she did so), blew lightly over the skin surrounding the cut to dry it a little, and then wrapped the bandage around the finger in such a way as to keep the cut slightly open underneath it. “There,” she nodded in appraisal of her handiwork. “That should do for now. Once we get back to the cabin, however, we’ll need to clean and dress it properly.”

Kanji flipped his hand around to admire her handiwork. “Doesn't even hurt anymore,” he said, flashing her a confident grin. “Thanks, Naoto.”

“You’re welcome, Kanji,” she replied softly, and after a moment, gathered her tools and basket and wandered out a bit in search of more to harvest. “What would you like me to keep an eye out for?”

“We still ain’t found much in the way of yellows or reds,” he answered as he picked up his own stuff, including the one rucksack they’d brought with them into the field. "Which is kinda weird."

“Why weird?”

“Usually I’m strugglin’ to find blues the most, or white, but reds, oranges, and yellows are normally all over the place,” he explained. “There’s usually a buncha rose bushes or marigolds around. We’ve only found a couple so far.”

“Perhaps they failed to flourish this season, or are prematurely out of season by now?” Naoto surmised, looking around slowly. “Or perhaps we merely have yet to stumble across a concentration of them.”

Kanji stretched as he stood to his full height, back cracking as he did so. “Yeah, prob’ly right,” he yawned. “Ya usually are.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

"Is it flattery when it's the truth?" Naoto opted not to respond.

Laughter came easily, casually - a far cry from their not-too-distant past - as they wandered leisurely through the mountain forest, talking about everything and nothing, simply drifting along the flow of conversation as it happened. Kanji answered her questions about textiles and the dyeing process. Naoto went into more detail than she ever had about her detective work and a bit more about her family’s history in the field. They discussed who would win in a fight between Yu’s numerous personas, even. Whatever came to mind, they felt free to approach, and Kanji had never felt more relaxed. This was his element – doing what he loved with the one he loved. Nothing could possibly bring him down from this high.

Nothing, that is, until he heard her voice suddenly grow much quieter, meeker, carrying a question he knew she’d been holding back for some time.

“Kanji, would it be all right if I asked about your Shadow?”

He froze for a second, taken aback by her inquiry even as he'd been expected it, and she backpedaled immediately. “Y-you don’t have to discuss it if you’d rather not, but I- I was just-“

“No, no, it’s okay, Naoto,” he soothed with an easy smile, hoping it didn’t look like the wince he felt inside. “I just wasn’t expecting you to ask about that out... here.” She looked up at him expectantly and he raked a hand through his hair. “C’mon, let’s head back for now an’ I’ll tell ya all about that bastard.”

~*~

Once the two were settled at the table in the cozy eat-in kitchen of their cabin, Kanji told Naoto, in great detail, about the struggle against his other self, embarrassment marring his features in points, but nowhere near as much as he would have expected. Guess he'd made greater strides than he thought. Naoto had grasped his hand throughout in a show of support, knowing it must have been difficult for him to discuss, even after all this time. It was, after all, still a struggle to think about her own Shadow. But he told her everything, including how her sudden appearance and his misunderstanding of her initial interest had thrown him for a rather intense loop.

“Your outburst after Yosuke-senpai signed us up for the pageant in our first year makes... much more sense now,” she admitted, staring at their joined hands resting on the table. “I apologize for confusing you, Kanji.”

“Ya couldn’t have known how much you’d affect me just by givin’ me the time a’ day, case or not,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “My own fault for not gettin’ it.”

“I could have clarified my interest, though,” she persisted. “And it was my own personal dilemma which complicated your own, what with my refusal to embrace my gender in lieu of advancing my career with as little resistance as possible. I’m truly sorry.” The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments until Kanji pushed back from the table in a gentle stretch.

“Water under the bridge now, right?” he said with his usual easy-going grin, giving her hand a squeeze. 

Naoto nodded, returning the smile and feeling much more relaxed for it. “Indeed,” she agreed readily. They returned to their silence, a comfortable one this time, and ate dinner together, conversing easily once more. Once finished, they went about clearing the table and washing their dishes, and Naoto had a distinct sense of déjà vu as she thought back to the dressing room at the LMB Festival, where their adventures _together_ began.

“Hey,” Kanji piped up from beside her as he scrubbed a few specks of curry rice out of a bowl. “Since we’ve already broken the serious talk barrier here, you, uh… feel like talkin’ about whatever made you so upset at breakfast the other day?”

It took her a moment to recall what he was referring to, but once she did, she felt a bubble of anxiety pop in her stomach. “I… suppose it’s only fair, after you went into such detail for me.”

“Y’don’t hafta talk about it if you don’t wa-“ he started, but she held up a hand to silence him.

“No, it’s quite all right. It may well be therapeutic to discuss it.” Naoto ran the dry dish towel over the bowl Kanji had finally finished rinsing and placed it onto the dish rack to air dry the rest of the way, accepting a dripping plate from him immediately after. “Remind me how much I’ve told you about my parents?”

“Just that they… they died in an accident when you were a kid, like you mentioned in that stupid club the one time,” he said quietly, his gaze focused on the cooking utensils left in the sink, namely the wide spatula in his hand. “Didn’t think you’d wanna talk about it more than that.”

“And you weren’t wrong, but as I said, this may be somewhat cathartic for me,” she told him. After a deep sigh and the deposit of the plate onto the drying rack, Naoto began to explain.

“I don’t remember much of my parents anymore,” she opened, wringing the towel in her hands. “I was barely in grade school when we got the call about the accident. So most of what I remember of my childhood is Grampa, Yakushiji-san, and a small number of estate employees. That morning at your home was a sort of culture shock for me.”

“’Cause there's only me an' Ma?” Kanji ventured.

“No, _that_ I’m quite used to,” Naoto sighed wistfully. “It is rare to have more than two present for any meal, much less the first of the day. That is normally spent alone for me. However, observing your mother and the ease with which she went about her morning routine, as well as how naturally you fell in step with her… that brand of domesticity is not one I’m familiar with. While I was watching, I started to think about how my own parents might conduct our household’s mornings, were they still with us, and…” Naoto paused to swallow the lump in her throat as images appeared in her mind, not quite unbidden, of tables and cooking utensils and a mess of documents. “I wondered if I would have had siblings, had they not died,” she added quietly. “I imagine some of my own quirks are inherited from them, so I could picture the kitchen table covered in files, notes everywhere…” She smiled as Kanji took her hand and rubbed circles on the back of it with his thumb, taking the intended comfort from the gesture. “It… caught me off guard in your mother’s kitchen, which I assume is why I had the reaction I did. Had I been able to adequately prepare myself for the emotional onslaught, then I might not have-”

“Ya had the reaction ya did ‘cause you’re human, Naoto,” Kanji insisted, taking the dish towel from her so he could hold both of her hands. She held to him tightly as he spoke. “I was older when my old man kicked it, so I remember him clearer than you remember your folks, but I’ll tell ya – if you weren’t here with me out here, I’d be a mess right now.”

“Why?”

“The dyes, from gatherin’ to mixin’ to the actual process of dyein’ the cloth? That was my old man’s job, ‘fore he passed. Now that I’m old enough to do it myself, Ma taught me what to look for and sent me out here on my own for the first time about a year an’ a half ago. First time I did it, I was angry. Cried a lot. Only came back with what we needed ‘cause doin’ any less woulda put Ma in a tough spot.” Kanji pulled Naoto into his chest and simply held her, his heart rate increasing as she snaked her hands around him, trailing her nails lightly across the form-fitting fabric of his undershirt. “We’re always gonna miss ‘em, and we’re gonna feel like shit sometimes when we think about ‘em. Nothin’ to be ashamed of.”

Naoto nodded into his chest, taking comfort from the warmth and surety of his embrace. “You’re absolutely right,” she murmured, lifting her chin to meet his soft gaze. “Thank you.”

“Same to you,” he replied affectionately, and as their lips met, the heaviness in the room lifted as if they’d merely dispatched its Shadow with a gun, a folding chair, and supernatural assistance.

~*~

Kanji paced through the bedroom, running a towel roughly through his hair to dry it. Naoto was still in the bath, and that knowledge had a bigger effect on him than he was comfortable with at the moment. For what felt like the hundredth time, he adjusted his lounge pants by tugging at the waistband, pulling it momentarily away from his skin to give himself some extra room if even for a couple of seconds at a time. “Calm the fuck down, Tatsumi, she’s just _bathing_!!” he hissed to himself, clenching and unclenching his free fists as he left his towel draped on his head like a hood. “Creep.” It’s not like he hadn’t seen at least a glimpse of her before, at the onsen. He’d said he didn’t see anything in front of the guys, and that was sort of true, but he had definitely been able to make out the edges of her lithe frame in the steam, to see exactly how and where the towel curved around her chest and hips. Even if Naoto hadn’t nailed him in the face with a bucket, he still would’ve ended up with a raging nosebleed. It was a wonder he didn’t have one now, on that note, given the images flashing through his mind. Kanji growled in frustration and ripped the towel off of his head, letting it drape around his neck instead. He grabbed his jacket from the small closet and yanked it on. “Hey Naoto,” he called as he passed by the bathroom door, “I’m steppin’ outside real quick. Not goin’ anywhere, okay?”

“Is everything all right?” she called back, her voice echoing slightly off the ceramic surfaces in the enclosed room. She must have picked up on his frustration.

“Yeah, just gettin’ some air. Nothin’ ta worry about. Take your time in there.”

“If you’re certain…” She did not sound as much.

“’S’all good, yeah? I like the way it smells up here at night, that’s all.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t his primary reason either. He felt a twinge of guilt for hiding that from her, but… yeah. Definitely would feel worse telling her about the situation in his pants.

Kanji inhaled deeply as he stepped out onto the front stoop of the cabin, the smell of pine and petrichor overwhelming his senses. The slight chill in the air did wonders for calming him down, as he’d hoped, and he closed his eyes and let the sounds of the night lull him into a state of near meditation. The crickets and cicadas were fighting for dominance in the late night air, and the latter were winning, as usual. Part of him wished he could’ve brought Naoto out here earlier in the season to see how many fireflies liked to hang out here. Opening his eyes, he let his head hang back in a gentle stretch and admired the stars. They were easy enough to see in town, especially from the overlook, but even that didn’t compare to the view out here. 

“Kanji?”

He turned his head at the sound of his name to see Naoto in the doorway, a towel draped over her head and one of his hoodies on top of her pajamas, looking absolutely adorable. She reached out and grabbed the back of his sleeve, looking mildly concerned. “Sup, Naoto? Enjoy the bath?”

“Yes, it was quite relaxing,” she affirmed, stepping out onto the stoop with him after letting the cabin door close all but a crack in her wake. “It appears you could use the same treatment. What brought you out here?”

He shrugged casually in response. “Needed to clear my head a little.”

“Clear it of what?” she pressed.

“Uh… j-just, y’know…”

“I’m afraid I lack mind-reading capabilities, Kanji,” she stated as a matter of fact.

Kanji shifted nervously in place, shoving his hands in his pockets and pulling his jacket as far down as possible to conceal any possible mishaps. “Just, uh… I mean you were in… in there t-taking a… a bath-“

“Yes, but… oh. _Oh._ ” Naoto shrank beside him, ducking her chin into the collar of his hoodie to hide as much of her blush as possible. “W-well, you can hardly be… held liable for a, um… physiological response to someone you’re a-attracted to…” she stammered, purposely averting her gaze.

“Ya see why I needed to come out here for a minute?” He couldn’t help but laugh a little at their shared embarrassment, which was a nice change from his prior tendency to turn tail and run any time this kind of subject came up in front of her.

“Y-yes,” she squeaked, clearing her throat with more force than was strictly needed thereafter. “But it is a bit chilly, and I assume you’ve, ah… dealt with your situation, such that it is. Let’s go back inside.” Naoto grasped his hand and tugged at it to get him in motion. She had him follow her to the bedroom and removed his hoodie to reveal a modest, plain tank top underneath, a dark heather grey to coordinate with her dark blue lounge pants. She pulled on a chunky cream-colored cardigan in place of the hoodie as he hung his jacket back in the closet and stripped off his undershirt after perching on the edge of the bed. “I made some tea,” she informed him, her eyes wandering over his chest. When she noticed he’d caught her doing so, her face erupted with color.

“I can get it if you want to settle in,” he offered, making to stand, but she waved her hands wildly in front of her.

“N-no, no, allow me,” she stammered, already leaving the room. “I have everything ready to go already anyway.”

Kanji chuckled softly once she had cleared the door and checked that their phones were charging for the night. He knew she had an alarm preset to go off daily, so didn’t bother setting his own. Within moments, Naoto had returned with two coffee mugs full of steaming liquid. “Sorry,” she said, “this was all they had in the cupboards.”

“I end up drinkin’ tea outta coffee cups most of the time anyway,” Kanji waved off, accepting his mug and raising it to his lips in appreciation. “Thanks, babe.”

Naoto froze in place, cheeks flaring, looking at him like something was growing out of the top of his head.

“Uh! …S-sorry, that just… came out,” he stuttered, staring into his tea. He only looked away from it when he felt the mattress sink a little under her weight. 

“No! It’s… it’s fine. You’ve just never used terms of endearment with me before.” She didn’t sound uncomfortable… a little shy, maybe.

“I won’t use it again if ya don’t want me to,” he said quickly. He really hadn’t meant to say it; it slipped out as naturally as anything else he’d said to her that day. He took a long drink of his tea in the silence.

“I… think I like it, though.”

He nearly spit it out in shock. “Y-you serious??” he asked after managing to swallow without choking.

“Yes. Perhaps only when we’re alone? I don’t think I’m quite ready for, um… pet names, in public.” He saw her bring her own cup to her mouth in his periphery.

“Sure, yeah, I can do that!” She - Naoto Shirogane, the renowned Detective Prince, serious to a fault - _liked_ affectionate nicknames?? He never would’ve seen that coming, but by her reaction, neither did she. They finished their tea with quiet conversation and Kanji took their cups back to the kitchen to rinse them, despite Naoto’s insistence upon doing it herself. He came back to find she had shed her cardigan and was tucked under the comforter to her waist, sitting upright waiting for him to return. “Which side of the bed d’you like sleepin’ on?” he asked. “Mine really only has room for one, so I don’t care.”

“I tend to stick to one edge or the other, whatever puts my phone and my notebook within easy reach,” she told him, scooting over and patting the space next to her in invitation, which he enthusiastically accepted. The two sat there together avoiding eye contact, occasionally giggling awkwardly.

“This… is kinda weird, ain’t it?” Kanji ventured, finally laying back on the pillow with his hands tucked behind his head.

“A little,” Naoto admitted, looking down at him with a sheepish smile. “I know I said this would be no different than any situation we’ve found ourselves in before, but I realize now that’s far from the truth.”

“I mean, it ain’t like we’re gonna do anything other than sleep, a-and maybe cuddle,” he shrugged, a bit awkwardly due to his position. Naoto smiled broadly at this and curled up onto her side, placing a hand on his chest and tucking her head into the dip below his shoulder.

“Both of those things would be lovely,” she murmured fondly. Kanji nudged her head to get her to lift it and slipped his arm underneath, offering the entire thing as a pillow of sorts. He took the hand on his chest with the other, and once comfortable, ducked his chin to kiss her forehead. She hummed in content and he felt at peace. Like everything was as it should be.

“This is real nice,” he mumbled, his lips resting against her fringe.

“It is,” she readily agreed, snuggling into him a bit more. “Far nicer than sleeping alone. And your arm is very comfortable.”

“Heh, thanks,” he chuckled. He fell silent for several moments, enjoying the sound of her breathing in the otherwise silent room. “Could get used to this,” he whispered.

“Likewise.” She was sounding sleepy now… the night prior must have still been taking a toll on her despite the several naps she had taken throughout the day. He stayed quiet again, listening as her breathing grew deeper, slower, and perhaps a bit louder.

“Naoto?” he whispered again, trying to see if she had fallen asleep yet. She gave no response – just kept breathing as she had, and he laughed in a sort of hum. “Last night an’ today totally kicked your ass, didn’t it,” he continued, in as low a tone as he could muster so as not to wake her. “I know you’re sleepin’ right now, and someday I'll be able to say this when you're awake, but…” Kanji paused and looked down at her to double-check that she was actually sleeping. There was no sign of consciousness, so he carried on. “You… you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Naoto, an' I want this to be the rest of my life – just you, me, maybe some snot-nosed kids runnin’ around. I got the shop and you got your cases, and maybe those two things don’t mix too well, but we _do_ , so I know we can make it work. I… love you, Naoto, since the day I met you. It’s what I do best besides sewin' an' shit, I think, and I don’t ever wanna lose you to anything.

"So I’ll study with Yakushiji-san, and I’ll keep runnin’ and gettin’ stronger, and I’ll protect you with everything I have. I wanna get old and wrinkly and cranky...er with you, y’know? I know this might seem too soon, but you gotta know I’ve had almost two years to fall in love with you before you even knew how I felt. It’s not soon for me. And when it’s not soon for you too, I wanna tell ya all this, and I want you to know y’don’t have ta say anything in return until you’re ready. But I had to say it before it pops out like that ‘babe’ thing, ya know?” He kissed her brow again and closed his eyes as he held her close. “So yeah, I love you, I’m in love with you, and that ain’t gonna change any time soon. Havin’ you here with me like this is a dream I hope I never wake up from.” He kissed her once more and made himself a bit more comfortable. In the process, she shifted as well, moving her head from his arm to his chest and resting her arm across his waist instead of his ribcage. He wrapped his arms around her frame and held her close, heart beating steadily beneath her ear. He hoped it wouldn’t disturb her. “Sleep well, my love,” he whispered, and then he, too, drifted off to sleep.

Had he been conscious just moments longer, he might have heard a small sniffle, followed by a shaky whisper in response:

“You as well, my dearest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHAHA Y'ALL THOUGHT.
> 
> _This is not the smut you are looking for._
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get out. Sometimes you're just a girl with two super relaxed, super sporadic jobs and then you're a girl with five jobs that take up all your free time! Plus, y'know, a kid. Editing this chapter was a bear too, for some reason, but I'm just gonna release the last two chapters at once for the lulz and go over it more as I find the time. Anyway, enjoy.
> 
> Also _completely_ unrelated to this story but oh my god if y'all aren't caught up on Convection (http://www.ateliermuseproductions.com/webcomics/convection/comic/page-1/), it's super easy now because they just posted the final page of the ENTIRE SAGA. Five years of kannao goodness, ffffffffffff Kris and Simon are _so good_ I die


	7. Day Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is much to be done in not much time.
> 
> (Note - // indicates a much shorter timespan than ~*~)

The morning was a flurry of activity, Naoto making coffee and packing the rest of their belongings as Kanji ran out to harvest a few more plants in the area before the sun had even come up. Once everything was ready to go and the cabin looked as good as when they had arrived, Naoto made one last (extremely thorough, maybe _too_ thorough) check of their overnight home to ensure nothing had been forgotten while Kanji settled up with the front office. The hike down to the train station was quick, the ride back to Inaba uneventful. Their hands were joined whenever easy to do so, and once they’d arrived back in town, Kanji took up their bags and walked leisurely through the Shopping District with Naoto right at his side. Their conversation flowed more naturally than ever, as it tends to do once more serious topics have been breached. Anyone who didn’t know otherwise might have thought them together for ages, or at the very least lifelong friends, and Kanji could not have been more pleased. Being with her was a happiness he'd never known, and he felt a lot more relaxed after his confession the night prior, even if she hadn't heard it. Had he always had this spring in his step, an old woman wondered aloud as they passed, and he didn't even have it in him to scowl.

“When does your train leave again?” he asked, shifting the bag on his shoulder as Marukyuu transitioned from beside to behind them.

“Just after two this afternoon,” she answered, looking downcast. “I did pack almost everything before we left yesterday, so I won’t require much time at the estate, but…”

“…But what?” he prompted.

“Would… would you want to join us for lunch today before I leave?” Naoto placed a hand on his arm and met his gaze with her own. “I’m loathe to spend too much time away from Grampa today since I’m also moving back into my apartment after I return from Tokyo…”

“Course, I’d love to,” Kanji cheered. “We can stop in to drop all this crap off, have tea with Ma, and then head right over.”

Naoto beamed at him. “Thank you, Kanji,” she murmured, giving his arm an affectionate squeeze. Kanji felt his cheeks heat up, which was kinda silly given they’d shared a bed the night before with no real problem.

“Sure thing, Naoto. I'm actually lookin’ forward to seein’ your old man now that I’m not so freaked out about it.”

“You two might actually have a real conversation tonight, yes?” she teased, laughing at his scowled response. “I apologize, Kanji, I couldn’t resist.”

“Our friends are rubbing off on you too much.”

“Nonsense,” she scoffed. “I would hope I am the one ‘rubbing off’ on all of you.”

“You can r- uh, n-nevermind.” He was endlessly glad his mind had caught up with his mouth before he'd finished his retort. Thankfully, Naoto seemed perplexed, and he waved it off in hopes she wouldn’t press the issue. “You wanna head over in half an hour or so?”

“Oh, we can spend more time with your mother than that,” Naoto assured him. “Lunch won’t be for a few more hours yet and Grampa isn’t that much of a conversationalist.” Kanji shrugged casually, stretching out a kink in his neck with a roll of the head.

The front door to Tatsumi-ya was open, and the two walked through it side by side. Two young boys and a girl who looked like she might only be a couple of years older than the boys were rifling through the stuffed animals Kanji had on display while, presumably, their mother talked shop with Mrs. Tatsumi. The latter brightened considerably when she saw the store's newest occupants.

“Kanji-chan, Naoto-kun!” she greeted happily. The woman she had been speaking with turned to face them and Kanji recognized her from his classes as one of the mothers who sometimes stayed to participate with the kids.

“Hey Ma, we’re back,” he announced, nodding politely to their customer.

“Welcome home. How was the harvest?” she inquired with interest. “And did you enjoy yourself, Naoto-kun?”

“I- oh!” Three small blurs interrupted Naoto mid-word, nearly knocking her over in their rush to Kanji’s side. He grunted as they barreled into him.

“Sensei!” The children clung to him, the smaller boys on his legs and the girl by his hips. They bombarded him with questions about the toys, when their next class was, what they would be doing at said class, and more Naoto couldn't quite discern in the chaos until he held up his hands in surrender.

“Chill, you three!” he scolded lightly, patting each on the head once they had done so. “One at a time, yeah?”

Naoto smiled warmly as she watched him with the kids, laughing as they climbed all over him as soon as he knelt down to get on their level. It was difficult to tear her eyes away from the scene to answer Mrs. Tatsumi’s question, but letting it hang any longer would have been rude. “Sorry, yes! I did, Tatsumi-san,” she told the matriarch. “Kanji-kun is incredibly skilled in all aspects of what you all do. It was a fascinating experience.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Mrs. Tatsumi beamed. “When Kanji-chan mentioned you wanted to accompany him, I worried you would find it a bit boring.”

“Not at all, Tatsumi-san. Kanji-kun was quite patient in teaching me everything I needed to know.”

“Which wasn’t much since she stayed up all night ‘fore we left readin’ up on all the plants,” Kanji interjected, standing now with the girl hanging off his back and each boy using one arm or the other as monkey bars. The sight was positively ridiculous and intensely endearing all at once, and the explosion of emotion in Naoto’s chest took her quite by surprise. She wasn’t really sure why, either. She had seen him with children before, on multiple occasions, particularly considering the frequent presence of Nanako Dojima. But these were children with whom he was simply acquainted, rather than linked through a close friendship, and he treated them just as he would their young friend. She had seen this behavior from him before, with a boy he assisted in replacing a cell phone strap for a friend, so this shouldn’t be surprising to see. Why was it affecting her so _now?_

“Children, stop treating Kanji-san like playground equipment,” their mother scolded, stepping towards them after setting her purse down next to Mrs. Tatsumi. “I’m sure he has better things to do than act as a human jungle gym.”

“This ain’t nothin’, don’t worry about it,” Kanji said, making a show of lifting the two boys by his arms to their great delight. The boys’ laughter was infectious and Naoto found herself joining in, as well as Mrs. Tatsumi, while the children’s mother just kept apologizing for their hijinks. “Hey Naoto, you mind helpin’ little Shiroko off my back?” he asked, the boys pulling on his arms now.

“Of course,” she replied. She stepped quickly behind him and took hold of the girl’s tiny waist to help her down, but the girl held on for dear life and Naoto couldn’t coax her away.

“Agh! Careful, Shiro, yer gonna choke me if ya don’t let go,” Kanji managed through clenched teeth.

“Here, Shiroko-chan, try twisting around so you can hold onto me instead,” Naoto instructed, edging close enough to completely remove the gap between their bodies in order to make the girl feel as comfortable as possible about letting go of Kanji's shoulders. Hesitantly, carefully, the little girl grabbed Naoto’s hand and she guided her grasp to her shoulders. This caused her to lose the purchase her legs had on Kanji’s ribcage and Naoto swiftly caught her by the waist before lowering her down to her feet. “There now,” Naoto nodded in satisfaction, “safe and sound.” The little girl hugged her arm tightly, clutching her hand like her young life depended on it. Naoto could only smile awkwardly as the girl beamed up at her.

“Thank you, nee-chan,” she trilled happily, bouncing slightly and tugging on Naoto’s arm as a result.

“She likes ya, Naoto,” Kanji laughed. “I ain’t never seen her take ta somebody new so fast.”

“It’s true,” the girl’s mother agreed. “She refused to say a word in Kanji-kun’s classes for months.”

Naoto still felt a bit unsure of what to do about the girl’s attachment to her, but felt the telltale markers of affection towards the child regardless and reached over with her free hand to give the girl’s head a pat. “How old are you, Shiroko?” she asked.

“I’m six!” the girl responded, grinning from ear to ear.

“Is that so?” Naoto knelt down in front of the child – she found looking at someone straight on often made them feel more comfortable, rather than lording over them (which she liked to reserve for suspects during interrogations alone). “Perhaps you know a friend of mine. Her name is Nanako Dojima.”

The girl gasped long and loud, eyes as wide as saucers. “You’re friends with Nanako-chan?” she repeated in awe. “She helps sensei a lot in our classes, and helps all of us too if we can’t do something, so we _all_ know her!”

“Do you play together outside of class?” Goodness, small talk with children was so much easier than with her peers…

“Yep! Not my brothers, though. They’re too little.” The girl puffed out her chest proudly, releasing Naoto’s hand to place her own on her hips as if she was a magical girl. “Mama doesn’t let them go out by themselves yet like me.”

“That’s quite grown-up of you, Shiroko,” Naoto smiled. 

“Uh-huh! I can’t wait to get big and old like Mama!” 

Naoto’s expression faltered a bit at that, even though everyone else was laughing (except the girl’s mother, who acted as if she was offended by the “big and old” part). She assumed the girl’s desire was of the normal variety for a child her age, but wanting to grow up too fast stole much of her own childhood from her, along with losing her parents. “Oh, you’ll be an adult before you know it, little one. Don’t rush it. Promise you’ll enjoy the time you have now to the fullest, okay?”

Shiroko cocked her head to the side, confused and curious. “Why?”

“Because when you get to be an adult, you don’t get to play as much. You have to go to work, pay bills, go grocery shopping, go to university and study a lot… all kinds of things that aren’t as fun as what you get to do now.”

The girl looked at her feet, considering what Naoto had said to her, only briefly before beaming back up at the young detective. “Mmh! Okay, I promise!”

“All right, you three, time to stop bothering your onii-san and onee-san,” their mother called, having evidently finished whatever business that had brought her there to begin with. The little girl hugged Naoto and Kanji in turn, the twin boys doing the same, before all three of them obediently followed their mother out of the store, each with a small knitted animal Kanji had slipped to them before they left.

“Thanks Sensei!” the children called behind them as they left. He and Naoto waved goodbye until they were out of sight.

“I love watching you with the kids, Kanji-chan,” his mother gushed. “You’ve always been so good with them.”

“They’re all right, I guess,” he shrugged, cheeks aflame. He shoved his hands in his pockets and put all his attention on the display of his knitted animals and straps. Mrs. Tatsumi caught Naoto’s eye and motioned at her son with a jerk of her head before standing to her feet.

“Kanji-chan, would you and Naoto-kun mind watching the store for a few minutes? I need to run to the stockroom,” she asked, not waiting for an answer before she walked through the doorway and into the back hall. Naoto took Mrs. Tatsumi’s silent suggestion and joined Kanji by his display, standing by his side as she, too, examined the dolls on hand.

“You really do have a gift, you know,” she said quietly. He didn’t respond beyond his eyes flickering to her for a second. “Children seem to flock to you, even back when your appearance was intentionally more intimidating. In truth, only children of a certain age and adults were ever uncomfortable around you.”

“Is what it is,” he shrugged noncommittally. “Can’t be helped. Sometimes kids don’t seem ta like me either, though.”

“Is that because they’re afraid of you, or because of the inherent shyness of being a young child?” Naoto posited. Kanji had no answer, and she nodded decisively, having made her point. “It’s your strong sense of empathy, Kanji-kun. People are subconsciously drawn to it. I believe that, once you truly embrace your self-confidence and leadership abilities, you will be a great asset to everyone you meet.”

Kanji’s stance had steadily relaxed as she spoke, and he stood casually next to her, hands in his pockets, head turned to consider her as her eyes continued to wander over the stuffed animal display. “I don’t really get what you just said, but it sounded like mostly good stuff. So… thanks.”

She giggled and picked up a small knitted penguin, cradling it just below her chin. “You’re welcome. Now how much are you selling this penguin for? I’d like to purchase it, so I have something of you with me during my trip back to Tokyo.”  
Kanji’s face fell suddenly as he reached out for the plush, which she relinquished promptly. “Shit, it’s gettin’ pretty close to that time, huh…”

Naoto’s bright demeanor darkened considerably as well; she had checked the time as little as possible, just enough to be aware of how much she had left before she needed to be at the station. A quick glance at the clock now told her it was already pushing 10:30. “There’s still time,” she said, forcing herself to sound more cheerful than she felt. “Let’s have that tea with your mother now and then head to the estate.”

“All right,” Kanji agreed. He sighed and went to put the penguin back before changing course and stuffing it in his pocket instead. When his mother came back into the storefront, he informed her of their plans for the day and she closed up shop for an hour to allow for a proper tea time and goodbyes.

By the time she and Kanji left for the estate, Naoto was already feeling the absence of the textile shop’s warmth.

~*~

“Now, Tatsumi-san-“

“It’s just _Kanji,_ man, how many times…”

“…Kanji-san, I will be coming at you with a knife and I will need you to avoid and disarm as necessary.”

“Grampa, is this really necessary right before lunch? I don’t have that much time left here, you know.”

“C’mon, old man, gimme your best sho-whoa!!”

After arriving at the Shirogane estate, Naoto’s grandfather had expressed interest in seeing some of Kanji’s defensive prowess as they waited for lunch. As such, here they all were in the courtyard, Yakushiji acting the assailant as Kanji’s training as a bodyguard began. At first, Kanji had been hesitant to use any sort of force against the older man, but that had landed him flat on his ass. Full efforts were put forth after that.

At the moment, Yakushiji had burst forward with a plastic knife in hand – one of Naoto’s old toys, she’d mentioned once realizing it – with incredible speed for a man of any age, much less his own, and Kanji had been caught off-guard again despite being ready for him this time. His fighting and survival instincts kicked in immediately, finely honed by all his time in the TV, accompanied by a faint buzzing throughout his core he recognized as Take-Mikazuchi. He rolled his body nimbly out of Yakushiji’s line of attack and swung around to attack from behind the older man, but Yakushiji had already swung around himself and was bouncing his weight from foot to foot lightly, as if about to engage in a fist fight rather than one with a weapon. 

Toy knife brandished, his eyes roamed over the area Kanji occupied, as if looking for an opening. Kanji had already determined he wouldn’t offer one easily. His Persona was resonating with Sukuna Hikona and Kanji inherently moved until he could feel their presence behind him. He knew Naoto was a safe distance away from the makeshift sparring area, but he still felt the need to protect her as he always did.

Kanji squared his shoulders and puffed up his chest to appear more intimidating, smacking a fist into his palm. His eyes were trained on Yakushiji’s hand with the knife one moment, the stance in his feet the next, the older man’s face a moment later, shifting accordingly for any tell of an incoming attack. Yakushiji was stoic as always even in his onslaught, so Kanji quickly dismissed his expression as a means of predicting the man’s movements. He did, however, notice that the veteran bodyguard had a tendency to bounce on both balls of his feet simultaneously a couple of times, rather than one to the other, right before he shot forward, so Kanji was already moving by the time the knife came at him. 

He reached out as Yakushiji advanced and grabbed the older man’s wrist holding the knife, keeping the rest of his arm well away from the weapon’s edge, and used Yakushiji’s momentum against him. With a hard yank, Kanji forced his opponent off-balance and spun around with his hand still gripping the armed wrist while twirling him in the opposite direction to maneuver the offending arm behind his back. He gripped the wrist as tightly as he could, pushing his thumb against the carpal nerve to relax Yakushiji’s grip and relieve him of the knife. They stayed that way for a moment after, Take-Mikazuchi buzzing excitedly in the thrill of victory before Kanji even realized he’d won.

“I… I did it. I _did it!!_ ” he exclaimed, in disbelief at first and then in celebration. He released Yakushiji with a quick apology, bowing to the older man when he turned around to give his approval of Kanji’s performance.

“Well done, my boy!” came the elder Shirogane’s enthusiastic praise from behind him, and he wheeled around to face his modest audience. “Well done indeed.” Naoto stood at her grandfather’s side, her face shining with pride. “Not only were you able to match, and even surpass, Yakushiji-san’s speed in order to disarm him, but you positioned yourself in front of my granddaughter without even seeming to realize it.” Kanji felt himself blushing. He absolutely realized he was doing it, but that's only because it’s what he always did when he and Naoto fought together. He could hardly tell Shirogane-san that, though. Not for the first time, he wished there were circumstances in which certain people could be trusted with knowledge of Shadows, Personas, and the Midnight Channel. Unfortunately, the government had already classified that information, along with that of the Dark Hour and all the shit Mitsuru-san’s people had dealt with years before the Investigation Team’s own experience.

“ _Now_ do you see that this training is redundant and unnecessary, Grampa?” Naoto asked. Clearly this was a point she’d tried to make more than once. “Kanji-kun is extremely skilled, and we fight quite well as a team.”

“And just when have you had the opportunity to do that, hm?” Grampa Shirogane’s tone was a knowing one, without question. 

_No way…_ Kanji thought as an impossible suspicion took root in his mind.

Naoto seemed at a loss for words as well, realizing her rare misstep. Her grandfather just laughed and patted her shoulder. “I… th-that is-“ she stammered in an attempt to recover. 

“You forget I review your cases at times, my dear. Both to marvel at your skill and to identify any possible room for improvement.” Naoto’s grandfather leaned down a bit conspiratorially. “Including one you worked on for a certain government entity last year. I found some of the more… peculiar details quite fascinating.”

Naoto was up in arms at once. “Grampa! Those are confidential files… classified, even, and you know it! Why did you look at them?”

“Do you really think your old grampa could do his job without a security clearance?” He had her there.

“…N-no, I suppose not-“

“And do you really think I wouldn’t seize every opportunity to be proud of the work my granddaughter is doing, work that is far beyond her years in complexity, even if no one else can appreciate it with me? Except, perhaps, young Tatsumi-kun here and the rest of your group of friends.”

Kanji just gaped throughout the entire exchange. This was not his area of expertise… he couldn’t hope to match the Shirogane wit no matter how hard he tried. Naoto looked like she was having trouble with that as well at the moment, until her face and posture relaxed, head shaking back and forth in amused resignation. “Nothing gets past you, does it, Grampa?” she mused, an edge of worry to her voice.

“I wouldn’t be very good at my job if it did,” he replied with a wink. “Now then, let’s go back inside. I believe lunch should be ready by now.”

//

Once inside, the two older men of the group retired to the kitchen and dining room as necessary, and Naoto took Kanji to one of the guest bathrooms to freshen up a bit before joining her grandfather. “Here you are,” she said, offering him a washcloth and hand towel from a linen closet outside the room. Both were warm when he accepted them, he noted with surprise, and Naoto was quick to explain. “There’s a warming rack in the closet,” she told him. “Grampa will sometimes host dignitaries here when taking new cases, so he had several… amenities installed over the years.”

“Oh. Cool!” Kanji ran the washcloth under some warm water and ran the damp cloth over his face and neck. He was still kind of sweaty under his shirt, though, so he took off the button-down he wore over his tank top, looped the collar over a hook on the wall, and wiped down the exposed skin.

Much better. 

Naoto leaned against the door frame, not really watching him but not _not_ watching him either. She was wringing her hands together, like she was nervous or something. “You okay?” he prompted, turning to face her fully as the water began to evaporate, cooling his skin instantly.

“Huh? …Oh yes, I’m fine,” she said quickly, dropping her hands behind her back.

“Y’sure? You kinda look like ya got somethin’ to say.”

Naoto shifted her weight from one leg to the other, as if she couldn’t quite find a position of comfort. He strongly suspected it had very little to do with the physical variety. “It’s just… when you were sparring with Yakushiji-san… how did you know where I was?”

“Huh?” Kanji tilted his head in confusion. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

“You maneuvered yourself across the grounds while facing off with him until you were actively shielding me,” Naoto clarified, her cheeks taking on a telltale shade of pink. “Not once did I see you look back, and I hadn’t said anything so the sound of my voice couldn’t have alerted you to my exact position, and yet… there you were, every time you faced off with him.”

Kanji’s brow raised in recognition. “Ohh, that. Well that’s easy enough. Didn’t ya notice I’ve been doin’ that since we first pulled you outta the TV?”

“I did take note of a few situations where you shielded me, but you always knew where I was beforehand-“

“Because I can just… tell where you are when you’re nearby, Naoto. Like, the big guy knows where your little guy is all the time.” Naoto looked shocked. Had she really not noticed that before? Could she not feel where he was? Or did she just not realize she could feel it because she could always see him standing in front of her?

“Fascinating… I admit I never gave much thought to that, but now that I am… I always assumed our Personas resonated so well because of our combination attack, but I never realized the extent of it. I will admit, it does feel like Sukuna Hikona has been drawn to Take-Mikazuchi far more over the last several months.”

“Maybe that’s why I’ve felt it so strongly since the beginning, ‘cause I felt for _you_ so strongly since then.” He reached up to pull the hand towel off of his neck with a sharp tug. “Guess I’m just used ta bein’ able to tell where you’re at.”

“I can’t believe I…” Kanji kept his eyes trained on her but said nothing, silently urging her to go on. “Never mind. It is of little importance now.” She took his hands and pressed their palms together, guiding them between their bodies as if they were on opposite sides of a pane of glass. “What matters now is that we are connected like _this_. Not only will it prove beneficial should we ever need to go into battle again, but that resonance between our Personas will serve as a constant reminder of what we share.”

“Y-yeah! ‘Course!” Kanji curled his fingers over her shorter ones, and when she craned her neck towards him, he bent low enough for their foreheads to rest against each other.

“I also have to thank you for saving me, Kanji… I don’t know that I ever have, properly.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

Naoto adjusted her hands, threading her fingers through Kanji’s and brought them to her chest just below her neck. “Senpai told me that you were particularly concerned following my disappearance during our first year,” she clarified. “And I saw firsthand your determination in fighting my Shadow when everyone else had fallen, carrying me out when I was too weak to move, catching me as I collapsed… I should have known then how much you cared, but I still had much to learn at that point. I’m sorry I took so long to see it. It must have been hard for you.”

“Nah, not really.” Naoto gave him a look. “Uh- I mean, sometimes it was frustrating, but I never blamed you for the rough days, y’know? The days that weren’t so rough, which was most of ‘em, were awesome. You were always worth the wait.”

“Kanji…” She grasped his hands tightly, kissing each one before letting their hands drop between them. She leaned up towards him as he leaned down and caught her in a chaste, but emotion-filled kiss, and his heart felt as if it would beat right out of his chest. He dropped one of her hands to cup her cheek, and she covered his hand with the one he’d relinquished, tilting her head to adjust the angle of their embrace. He felt her tongue ghost against his lower lip, and though it thrilled him – particularly since she rarely was the one to intensify anything – he wasn’t about to make out with the young lady of the house when they weren’t alone and were very much expected to join Naoto’s grandfather in-

“Begging your pardon, Naoto-sama.” The sound of Yakushiji’s voice and grind of his throat as he cleared it startled Kanji so much, he literally jumped away from Naoto in a frenzy. Naoto, to her credit, remained completely calm despite her face glowing red. “Apologies for the… ah, interruption,” the older man continued, as if he hadn’t just walked in on two teenagers. “Lunch is being served as we speak and Shirogane-sama asked me to fetch you.”

“No apologies necessary, Yakushiji-san,” Naoto insisted with an awkward little smile. “Kanji-kun finished freshening up only moments ago. We were only… w-waylaid for a minute or two.”

“Very good.” Then Yakushiji did something he never had before – he turned his undivided attention towards Kanji, despite an employer’s presence. “Tatsumi-san, your display of technique today was quite excellent. I am very impressed.”

Kanji stared blankly until Naoto poked his side. “Uh, th-thanks, Yakushiji-san,” he replied with a bow. “I’m really grateful you’re taking the time to teach me this stuff. You’re pretty badass for an older dude.”

Naoto coughed loudly to cover her snort of laughter.

“I appreciate the compliment, young man,” Yakushiji replied with a bow of his own. “With some work, you might just give this old man a run for his money one day.” With the faintest of smirks, the veteran assistant turned and left them on his way back to the kitchen.

Naoto didn’t bother masking her laughter this time.

~*~

Some time after lunch, close to 1p.m., Kanji found himself alone with the elder Shirogane in the man’s favorite sitting room – a prospect that terrified him even when hypothetical. Naoto had excused herself, saying she had a few more things she needed to pack up, and she and Yakushiji disappeared from the room accordingly. Kanji was extremely nervous, but grasped around for some topic of conversation to fill the painfully awkward silence. Maybe he’d be able to relax and impress the man in one fell swoop.

“So, uh… you always read Naoto’s case files?” Well that didn’t sound accusatory or anything. Great.

“I do,” Grampa Shirogane replied, his tone completely neutral, maybe slightly amused. “At times, I even read them twice. I’ve studied her files on the serial murder case you all were involved with when she first came back to Inaba at length.” Kanji swallowed hard; he had very little idea of what exactly Naoto had written in her reports about that case, or if anything about him specifically had made the cut.

“Y-… uh, y’said you knew about some of the crazy stuff we’ve been through? Our friends and Naoto an’ me, I mean,” he prompted warily. This was not a conversation he felt he should be having – rather, one meant for Naoto or Yu-senpai – but he was painfully curious about the other man’s thoughts on the matter, as well as just _how much_ he was aware of.

“I admit I was at a loss when attempting to understand her final report to Detective Dojima, but once I found the Kirijo research, a lot of missing pieces fell into place,” Grampa Shirogane explained. “Judging by the extensive involvement you all had in the murder case, I could only assume that you all were Persona-users. I confess I do not know what a 'Persona' is, exactly, beyond what is detailed in the Kirijo files, nor how one obtains such a thing, but I would like to ask you how you obtained yours, and perhaps what it is like.”

Kanji sighed heavily and sat cross-legged on the floor (he had opted not to sit while alone in the room with the patriarch out of respect). “I mean, there’s still a lot about it I don’t get, but… as far as getting our Personas, we had to face our Shadows first.”

“Those were mentioned in the Kirijo reports, described simply as 'the darkness in people’s hearts’,” Shirogane-san recited.

Kanji nodded confirmation. “For Mitsuru-san’s people, Shadows worked a little differently than for us. They didn’t hafta fight their own Shadow to get their Persona – somethin’ about shootin’ themselves in the face or some weird shi- uh, stuff like that – but for us, our Shadow _became_ our Persona. All of us had to fight ourselves, except Senpai. He, uh… got his a little differently.”

“When you say you had to 'fight yourselves,' what does that mean, exactly?” Naoto’s grandfather leaned forward in his chair, elbows propped on his knees. “You said you had to fight your Shadows. If I understand correctly, Shadows are borne of the darkness within a human heart, and as such, your individual Shadow would have served as a reflection of your personal darkness. Is that accurate?”

“Uh, sorta.” Kanji scratched the back of his head with uncertainty. “Man, this is real weird to talk about with somebody who ain’t on the Team…”

“I do appreciate the insight, though, Tatsumi-kun,” the older man insisted as he stroked his chin in contemplation. “I have wanted to ask Naoto-chan about this for some time, but her investigative ethics would never have allowed her the freedom to discuss it.”

Kanji froze. “A-am I doin’ somethin’ wrong here, tellin’ you about everything? Crap, she’s gonna be mad…”

Shirogane-san chuckled warmly. “As I recall, young man, this is simply a conversation between two people regarding one's personal experiences. Not to worry.” His expression was one of innocence, but Kanji knew that tone. Naoto used the same damn one whenever she was skirting the rules.

“Well… okay then. Still kinda feel like Naoto could tell it better, but…” Kanji took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, with our Shadows… it ain’t exactly our inner darkness or whatever, but… kinda, I guess? They looked almost exactly like us, which was weird as hell, but they acted like that deep, dark part we all like to keep hidden, instead of admitting it exists. We had to fight ‘em so they didn’t kill us, and then accept ‘em so they turned into our Personas.”

“Fascinating.” The elder Shirogane furrowed his brow in thought for a moment. “Were you... alone, when you were forced to fight?” He was still frowning, and there was a distinct edge to the man’s voice as he asked this question. Kanji had a feeling he knew why.

“Nah, the others helped. I got mine before Rise and Naoto so they weren’t there for my Shadow, but I was there to fight theirs.”

“That sheds quite a bit of light on your tendency to use your body to shield my granddaughter, whether she’s involved in a physical altercation or not.” Grampa Shirogane nodded approvingly, settling back against the leather upholstery of his chair. 

Kanji chuckled awkwardly before clearing his throat to continue. “We were kinda partners, so it's... w-well, anyway, we ended up solving the case because we could go inside the TV. That asshole Adachi was using the TV world to kill people by droppin’ ‘em in and lettin’ their Shadows kill ‘em.” He paused as images tinged with red and black flashed through his mind’s eye, smiling to himself when the colors were broken by bones and bolts of lightning. “It was actually pretty cool using our Personas to fight, if ya don’t pay attention to any of that murder shi- uh, stuff. Take-Mi and Sukuna Hikona worked really well together too – even had a special attack that made this huge, badass skull show up and finish off whatever we were fightin’.”

Naoto’s grandfather cocked his head curiously. “Take-Mi? Sukuna Hikona?”

“Oh! Sorry, those are our Personas. Mine’s called Take-Mikazuchi, and Naoto’s is Sukuna Hikona. They can evolve if they have to, but most of the time they’re called by those names. Take-Mi is this huge metal guy who likes to throw lightning bolts at stuff, or hit stuff with a big metal lightning-shaped sword thing. Sukuna’s this cute little dude in a military cadet uniform with a lightsaber-lookin’ sword. Flies around, fast as hell, kinda looks like a bug-“

“Kanji-kun? Grampa? …What are you talking about?”

Kanji froze as Naoto’s slightly panicked voice broke through the descriptors of her Persona. _Shit, she’s pissed..._

“I asked Tatsumi-kun to tell me more about his experiences with Shadows and Personas, after reading about them in your case files.” The old man didn’t even flinch, as casual as if he’d asked Kanji about what he had for dinner yesterday. “I must say, it’s all fascinating.”

Naoto seemed like she was stuck somewhere between angry, frightened, and relieved.

“S-sorry, Naoto,” Kanji stammered, refusing to meet her eye. He knew she was still standing in the doorway, staring at him or her grampa. “H-he already knew some s-so… y’know, I figured it… wouldn’t hurt to tell ‘im-“

“No, Kanji-kun, there’s nothing to apologize for,” she interrupted, a hand in the air. “I’m not upset, just… I never thought I’d be discussing my forays into the paranormal with my grandfather.” Naoto was quiet for a moment, wringing her hands tightly. “Did… did you talk about our Shadows?”

“Nothin’ specific,” Kanji assured her quickly. She visibly relaxed, which did not escape her grandfather’s attention. 

“Tatsumi-kun mentioned your Shadows were the parts of your Self you refused to admit to. ...I can only imagine what yours must have been like, Naoto-chan. I won’t ask you to relive it, but I’m glad your friends were there to help you through.” Naoto’s grandfather reached for her hand, squeezing it firmly once she had proffered it.

“I… thank you, Grampa, I would indeed rather not get into the details,” she admitted, speech clipped. “It was actually mostly Kanji-kun’s efforts that lead to my return after I was kidnapped by Namatame.”

“Which I still both highly disapprove of and greatly respect,” Shirogane-san said gruffly. “It would put me at ease if you would refrain from putting yourself up as bait for the sake of solving any case in the future.”

Kanji shifted from his position on the floor, propping one knee up to rest his arm on instead of sitting straight cross-legged. “I dunno that it was mostly me or anything,” he ventured, a hand on the back of his neck. “We all came after you, ya know?”

“Of course, but none as vehemently as you did. You were also the only one to throw your support blindly in my corner, telling the others to let me go through the process unhindered – to reject, fight, then accept. I was distraught at the time, but I still heard everything. You were the only one to fight my Shadow for the entire battle as well, and I firmly believe that, had you not been there to hold it off while Yu-senpai had recovered enough to summon that huge Persona, I would have lost my life that day.” Naoto turned her attention to her grandfather at this point, gesturing excitedly. “He carried me out of the room on his back to keep me away from the massive attack being thrown at my Shadow by said Persona, and physically kept me on my feet until I was brought home that night, whether by lending a shoulder or arm, or carrying me outright.”

“Naoto…” 

“In addition, he is frequently a voice of reason on the Team, helping us – helping _me_ – focus on the big picture when we get bogged down by the details. He always says what he means, and means what he says, and watches out for all of us even more than Senpai – he’s just not as obvious about it. Kanji is one of the most valuable partners any of us could ever hope for, and he isn’t informed of this nearly enough.” She said the last bit with a very deliberate glance in his direction.

Kanji gaped at her openly. What brought all of this on? He knew his face was super red, but surprisingly, Naoto’s wasn’t. Her words were impassioned and heartfelt, dripping with genuine praise. He glanced over at the elder in the room and saw him raise his brow at his granddaughter.

“ _Kanji_ , hm?”

Naoto’s eyes bugged. Ah – _there_ was the blush. “I… uh…”

“You’ll have to be sure to tell him frequently how much he means to you, Naoto-chan, if he doesn’t recognize his value on his own. As a _partner_ , of course.“ He turned to Kanji then and the young man shot to his feet out of respect. “As for you, I must thank you for watching out for my granddaughter, and for saving her from a most dismal fate. Our family could not be more grateful.”

“I-it was nothin’,” Kanji stuttered, his posture relaxing a bit in his self-consciousness.

“It most certainly was not ‘nothing’, Tatsumi-kun.” Shirogane-san stood from his chair as well and held out his right hand, which Kanji tentatively took to shake. He wasn’t expecting the older man to take his hand between both of his own and bow deeply to him. “Please continue to watch out for each other. You two have a unique and meaningful connection; use it to its fullest.”

Kanji swallowed the lump in his throat before nodding resolutely. “You have my word, Sir.”

“We will, Grampa. Promise.”

The elder Shirogane smiled warmly upon the young couple before holding his arms out to Naoto in invitation, one she readily accepted. “It’s about that time,” he said quietly, hugging his granddaughter close. The next words he uttered were done so at a whisper, for her ears alone. “I am so proud of you, sweet girl. Your parents are as well, I’m certain. They would like Tatsumi-kun quite a lot, you know.”

“I know, Grampa,” she whispered in return. “He’s a wonderful man.”

“Indeed.” He released her, holding her by the shoulders at arms’ length to look her over approvingly. He spoke now at normal volume. “Now then, would you like Yakushiji-san to drop you both at the train station? You do still have some time before your train, but not enough to walk comfortably from here.”

Kanji looked at Naoto as she did at him, his heart beating faster with the anxiety accompanying her impending departure. As much as he wanted to prolong their time together, he knew Shirogane-san was right. If they tried to walk from here, they’d be rushed, forced to jog part of it, and that would hardly be as enjoyable. But then, an idea came to him. “Uh, could Yakushiji-san maybe drop us at my place? We can walk from there with no problem, but I need ta grab somethin’ from the shop real quick.” Naoto questioned him silently and he shook his head with a smile. “Just forgot to grab somethin’ for you ‘fore ya head off.”

She still looked curious, but relented in her questioning. For now. “I have no objections if Yakushiji-san is amenable to the arrangement.”

//

As Kanji and Yakushiji took Naoto’s things to the car, the young detective bid her grandfather a fond farewell and promised to come visit – aside from gathering things to take to her apartment – the first day she had off following her return from Tokyo. The old man hugged her again and sent her off with his love, shook Kanji’s hand heartily once more, and stood in the driveway to see them off until the car was out of sight. He always sent her off with some measure of worry despite his confidence in her abilities, but he was not ignorant of the fact that his worries were significantly reduced after seeing her together with Tatsumi-kun. He sent a silent prayer to his son and daughter-in-law, as he always did when Naoto left, to watch over her, and this time added a request for their blessing on Kanji as a worthy partner. He wasn’t getting any younger, and the young man’s loyalty to Naoto was unshakable. He knew of no one better suited to her than young Kanji, and as he turned to go back into the house, he resolved to support their relationship any way he could.

~*~

There were only minutes before the train was scheduled to arrive and the platform was a bit chaotic. The entire Investigation Team, as well as Dojima and Nanako, was there to see three of its members off. Yosuke was trying to pull Teddie off of Yu and his young cousin, the latter of whom had already been hugging her “big bro,” as Yukiko dissolved into a fit of laughter. Chie was trying to get some last-minute pointers from Naoto and Dojima for her academy entrance exam, and Rise was grilling Kanji for updates on both his relationship with Naoto and her costume order – admittedly, mostly the former.

As the train rolled into the station, and everyone said their final goodbyes, Kanji pulled Naoto aside and handed her a small, flat bundle – the “thing” he’d forgotten at the shop. She had been eyeing it curiously since he’d emerged from the shop with it, but as he’d not been forthcoming with information, she hadn’t pressed him. “Open it when you get there,” he told her, pulling her into his arms and holding her close. She returned the embrace tightly, shocking him (and everyone else there) by placing a quick kiss on his cheek before pulling away, face red and refusing to meet anyone’s gaze but his. She smiled and squeezed his hand once more before Rise urged her into the train behind Yu, with a promise to call once she had arrived. Those left on the platform waved at the departing trio hanging out of the windows until they could no longer see each other.

Dojima and Nanako left first, followed by the remainder of the Team after they’d decided to head to Junes for something to eat (Yosuke was also due on shift soon, along with Teddie, so it was the most convenient place to congregate for now).

“Sooo, Kanji-kun, what was in that package you gave Naoto-kun before she left?” Chie asked, lazily twirling a chopstick in her hand as she waited for Yosuke to bring the yakisoba she ordered.

“The wrapping was really pretty,” Yukiko added, putting her ramune back on the table after taking a sip.

“N-nothin’ special, jus’ somethin’ I wanted to give her before she left, tha’s all.” Kanji picked at his shogayaki skewers absentmindedly, elbow propped on the table with his cheek resting against the heel of his hand.

“Oh come on, Kanji, spill it!” Yosuke insisted as he returned to the group with two orders of yakisoba, Teddie close behind with some takoyaki for himself and tofu gyoza for Yukiko. “Something wrapped that nicely can’t be nothing.”

“Have you _met_ me??”

“He has a point, Yosuke,” Chie agreed, her mouth half full of noodles. “Even his bento boxes at school look super nice.” Kanji motioned towards Chie to emphasize what she’d said. 

“Well, whatever it was, I’m sure she’ll love it,” Yukiko said thoughtfully as she grabbed one of her gyoza and dipped it in the accompanying sauce.

“I hope so,” Kanji murmured, more to himself than anybody else.

//

The train lumbered along through the countryside, past towns, smaller cities, mountain ranges, and farmland on its way to Tokyo. Rise, Yu, and Naoto had found themselves a nice secluded corner in which to sit (they knew privacy would be hard to come by with both a famous idol and the renowned Detective Prince traveling together). Rise was currently talking Senpai’s ear off, which he took in stride as always, while Naoto listened idly, her fingers playing with the tied end of the bundle Kanji had given her before they left. She was infuriatingly curious, but didn’t want to open it with an audience; his instructions not to open the package until she had arrived at her temporary residence in Tokyo reflected his desire to keep it between them for now. Still… maybe she could simply excuse herself and open it in another car or something? The longer she sat there wondering, the more agitated she became. Her fingers tapped on the arm of her seat and she tuned out the conversation across from her completely in her distraction.

“Helloooo, earth to the Detective Prince!”

Naoto started gently and looked up to see Rise waving a hand in front of her face. “What is it, Rise-san?”

“Senpai and I are gonna go get something from the snack car. You want anything?”

Naoto’s glance skewed to Yu for a moment, during which he dropped his own pointedly to the bundle in her lap. Was her impatience really that obvious? “N-nothing for me at the moment, Rise-san, thank yo- oh! On second thought, perhaps a can of espresso?”

“You got it! Up late last night, were you?” Naoto rolled her eyes at Rise’s suggestive tone and deigned not to take the bait. Once her companions had disappeared from sight, she gingerly worked the fabric ties open (in spite of her desire to rip the thing open at once). She found some kind of fabric wrapped in tissue paper, the same way the textile shop packaged orders for its customers, the penguin plush she had wanted on top of it, turned into a cell phone strap, and two small envelopes – one marked ‘read first’, and the other marked ‘read after’. Carefully, she worked the first envelope’s flap open and took out the note within, written on stationary decorated with outlines of bunny heads:

 _Hey Naoto,_  
_So I’ve been learning some new stuff at the shop with Ma, taking on more responsibilities now that I’m not trying to be an idiot pushing people away all the time. After I made this thing, I thought it would look real nice on you if you ever decided to wear a yukata or a kimono. I wonder if you even have one… hey, if you don’t, I can make one for you! Whenever you want, okay? So uh, I hope you like it, and tell me if you want the yukata or whatever to go with it. I got some ideas already that I can show you if you want. Anyway, yeah, I guess that’s it. See ya at school,_  
_Kanji_

Naoto smiled at the neat handwriting on the paper before carefully folding it and replacing it in its envelope. She took the second one and opened it as well; this stationary, a bit larger than the first, was lined with cats along the vertical edges:

 _Naoto,_  
_By now you’ve read the first note. I wrote that right after we solved the murder case with Adachi, but never found the courage to give it to you back then. I almost forgot I even had it, actually, but now there’s nothing holding me back. I still think this will look beautiful on you… not that you don’t look gorgeous in everything, because you do! But, agh, you know what I mean. I already made you a yukata to go with it, but I have to alter it once you’ve tried it on. We can do that once you’re back. Gonna make a kimono at some point, but I don’t have enough of the right silk for it yet. I will, though, soon._  
_What I didn’t say in the first note is that I made this for you from the start. It was always meant for you, I was just too much of a chicken-shit to admit it. Silly, right, because I already gave you that badass jacket I made for you! Anyway, I hope you like it, even though I’ve seen you in, like, one traditional outfit ever and you said that was on loan from Rise, right? Because your old one was too small by then? Doesn't matter._  
_Anyway, stay safe in Tokyo and come back to me soon. I miss you already._  
_< 3 Kanji_

Naoto folded the note and held it to her chest as she attempted to recover from the flood of emotion it induced, eyes closed against the sting of tears. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and swallowed past the tension in her throat before replacing the sweet message back in its envelope. She had an idea now of what was in the package, and carefully worked the tissue paper open to reveal a blue ombre-dyed obi, intricately embroidered with designs that made little sense in the way of cohesion, but perfect sense when applied to her.

Along the edges, delicate lines of silver and green that looked like a sort of stylized circuitry twisted and turned so as to look like vines from a distance. Periodically, she would come across a dragonfly or a ladybug; there were skulls every so often as well, and the outline of a gun and a detective badge. On the center front, which would be covered by obijime, was Sukuna Hikona’s face embroidered as true to the original as could be done with a needle and thread. She knew the silk was hand-dyed by Kanji, expertly so, a dark blue fading to a light sky blue with the slightest hint of purple, which made it all the more special.

“That’s _beautiful_ , Naoto-kun!”

Naoto jumped for the second time that train ride when Rise bounded up with snacks in hand, Yu not far behind. “That’s what Kanji gave you?”

“Apparently he made this quite some time ago and never got around to giving it to me,” Naoto explained, running her fingers lightly over the fabric and tracing along its various designs.

“I remember when he made it,” Yu added as he took his seat across from Naoto. “I’ve never seen him so stressed and excited as he was when trying to get the dyes right. I’m glad he finally gave it to you, Naoto.”

“Me too,” she smiled. She rewrapped the obi and notes to the best of her ability, taking the penguin and holding it in her lap for the moment. The package went into her bag and her phone came out of it, to which Naoto attached the penguin strap. She opened up her messages, typing in Kanji’s name to enter his contact number, and quickly typed out a message, her cheeks warm while doing so. After sending it off, she slipped the phone back into the front pocket of her bag.

“So things are going pretty well, huh, Naoto-kun?” Rise asked teasingly. Naoto noted both of the straps Kanji had made for her were readily displayed, one on her phone and the other on her purse. She smiled warmly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Naoto-kuuuuuun, come on!” the idol pouted.

“Let a girl have her secrets, Rise,” Yu chastised gently. Rise still seemed put out, but she also didn’t press further for details.

“Just…” Rise paused, her lips pursed. “Just don’t break his heart, okay? He’s waited for you for so long, and you really are perfect together.”

“I don’t foresee any desire to end my relationship with him. He… means a great deal to me. You don’t need to worry.” She ducked her head shyly, staring the bundle just barely visible inside her purse.

//

Kanji felt his pocket buzz at him as he stood to throw away his trash. He stepped away from the others before pulling it out to check the notification. From Naoto? _Wonder what’s up, they can’t have gotten there already. Maybe she forgot somethin’…_ He unlocked the phone and opened the message:

_I LOVE IT. ITS PERFECT. UR PERFECT. THK U. CALL U LTR._

Kanji nearly melted on the spot.

“Did you get a message from Nao-chan?” Teddie skipped over to his side and Kanji hid the screen from view out of instinct.

“Y-yeah, but it’s none-a your business, Ted!” Kanji exclaimed hastily in his embarrassment. Teddie seemed unfazed.

“You look really happy, Kanji! Happier than when you got to dance with Nao-chan last time!”

“Yeah, I guess.” He smiled and held his phone a little tighter.

“The sweet thrills of young love, a rush of blood to the cheeks, the flutter of a thousand butterflies in your stomach!” Teddie clasped his hands together with a dreamy look on his face. Kanji, however, just blinked at him and waited for the moment to pass. “Oh Kanji, I’m so bear-y happy for you two, even if it means I don’t get to score with Nao-chan now.”

“Damn right you don’t, and you better not try,” Kanji growled. “But… thanks, Ted. Means a lot.”

Once Teddie had bounced off towards Yosuke, Kanji looked back at his phone and tapped out a quick reply. After doing so, he pocketed his phone once more and rejoined the others in Teddie’s wake.

//

Naoto was vaguely listening to Rise telling Yu all about her schedule for the week; she was trying to plan a time for the three of them to meet up for dinner or something before Naoto went back to Inaba, so she probably should have been listening too, but her phone vibrated in her bag and her attention snapped to it in full. As discreetly as she could manage, she took her phone back out to read the message that had just arrived:

_You’ve been perfect since the day we met. Glad you like the obi. Can’t wait until you’re home so you can see the yukata that goes with it! It’s going to look amazing. <3_

Her chest filled with warmth and she found herself stifling a squeak of sorts, much to her shame, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be too embarrassed. She opted not to reply for now and replaced the phone in her bag. _Absolutely no cause for Rise-san to worry,_ she mused happily. _We’re not going anywhere._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And their first whole week together comes to a close! But there's still an epilogue coming, so stay tuned.
> 
> Who knew I had a headcanon for Grampa Shirogane being nosy AF when it comes to Naoto's case files and he knows about Personas and shit *shrug*


End file.
